Figure 1

Blast-mediated traumatic brain injury (bTBI) was associated with loss of BRN3A⁺ retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and axons. (a) Representative images from the mid-central area of whole-mount retinas stained with anti-BRN3A antibody (green) at the indicated time-point. Mice were sham treated or subjected to bTBI. (b) Quantification of BRN3A⁺ RGCs at 1 week (1 W), 5 weeks (5 W) and 17 weeks (17 W) after injury. (c) Representative images of paraphenylenediamine (PPD)-stained optic nerves from sham mice and bTBI mice at 1 W, 5 W, and 17 W after injury, at low (upper row) and high (lower row) magnification. (d) Quantification of axons in PPD-stained optic nerves at 1 W, 5 W, and 17 W after injury. The optic nerves examined were from the retinas in which the BRN3A⁺ cells were quantified. (e) Percent of degenerating axons in PPD-stained optic nerves at 1 W, 5 W and 17 W after injury. Bars represent mean ± SD and each data point represents a biological sample; unpaired two tailed t-test with Welch’s correction: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, **** p < 0.0001, n.s. not significant. The images were processed in Fiji¹¹¹, the graphs were generated in Prism 8 software and the figure was assembled in Adobe Illustrator CC 2014.