Fig. 1: Design of an intracranial pre–OPN OTI model and the regeneration and reinnervation of injured RGC axons into OPN after Pten/Socs3 knockout and CNTF expression. | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: Design of an intracranial pre–OPN OTI model and the regeneration and reinnervation of injured RGC axons into OPN after Pten/Socs3 knockout and CNTF expression.

From: Functional optic tract rewiring via subtype- and target-specific axonal regeneration and presynaptic activity enhancement

Fig. 1

A Schematic illustration of the pre-OPN bilateral OTI model where RGC axons are crushed at the narrow region of the optic tract right after LGN, between LGN and OPN/SC. B Schematic illustration of performing OTI on the optic tract after LGN without removing cortical tissues. C Schematic diagram showing the PLR pathway. Bilateral OTI results in a complete cessation of OPN-mediated PLR. D Schematic diagram illustrating the experimental timeline for (E–G). E Fluorescence images showing CTB-labeled RGC axons (green) and GFAP-labeled lesion site (blue) in LGN and OPN from different groups. Scale bar: 200 µm. F Zoomed-in images of rectangles-indicated areas in (E) showing RGC axons in the OPN regions. Scale bar: 50 µm. G Quantification of the normalized CTB intensity at different distances from the lesion site. Blue/Red asterisks indicate the comparisons between 3 m Regen. group and 6 m Injury Ctrl. group, and 6 m Regen. group vs. the 6 m Injury Ctrl. group respectively. Data presents mean ± SEM. n = 7 (6 m Injury Ctrl.), n = 5 (3 m Regen.), and n = 8 (6 m Regen.). Statistical significance: Red asterisks p < 0.0001 (100 and 200 µm), p = 0.0014, 0.0499 (300, 400 µm). Blue asterisks p < 0.0001 (100 µm), p = 0.0295 (200 µm). H Fluorescence images showing the CTB-FITC (green) labeled RGC axons from the left Regen. eye and CTB-555 (red) labeled RGC axons from the right Injury Ctrl. eye from the same mouse. Scale bar: 200 µm. I Zoomed-in images of rectangles-indicated areas in (H) showing RGC axons in the OPN regions. Scale bar: 50 µm. J Quantification of the normalized CTB intensity in the contralateral hemisphere of the injected eye at indicated distances from the lesion site. Data (mean ± SEM): n = 5 mice. Statistical significance: p < 0.0001 (100 and 200 µm), p = 0.0025, 0.0227, 0.0403, 0.0467, 0.0027, 0.0018 (300-800 µm). * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001. ANOVA followed by Bonferroni test, two-sided (G, J). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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