Table 1 Treatments directly targeting caspases in RGC degenerative disease

Caspase	Model	Inhibitor	Time at the end of the study (days)	Percentage surviving RGC (% untreated)	Percentage surviving RGC (% treated)	References
Broad spectrum	ONT	z-VAD	14	16.8 ^a	34.5 ^a	⁶¹
	75 min raised IOP	Q-VD-OPH	7–21	39–64	63–71	⁶²
Caspase-1	ONC	NLRP3−/−	3–28	78–13	89–25	¹⁰⁸
	NMDA-RGC explants	YVAD-fmk	2	18	12	¹³⁵
Caspase-2	ONC	z-VDAD-fmk	15	12.3	60	^{95, 96}
	ONC	siCASP2	21–84	10–7	95–96	^{91, 116}
	Optic neuritis	siCASP2	21	65.5	79.3	⁸¹
Caspase-3	ONT	z-DEVD-cmk	7–28	10–34.3	24.3–47.4	^{61, 100, 101}
	NMDA-RGC explants	DEVD-fmk	2	18	26	¹³⁵
Caspase-3 and -6	NMDA-RGC explants	DQMD-fmk	2	18	41.6	¹³⁵
Caspase-6	ONT	SIMA 13a	13	16.8 ^a	37 ^a	⁶¹
	ONC	CASP6 DN	21	14.2	39.4	⁹⁶
	ONT	z-VEID	14	16.8 ^a	48.2 ^a	⁶¹
	NMDA-RGC explants	VEID-fmk	2	18	41.6	¹³⁵
	30 min artery ligation	z-VEID-fmk	14	33.9	46.2	¹⁶¹
	30 min artery ligation	siCASP6	14	30 ^a	48 ^a	¹⁶¹
Caspase-7	ONT	CASP7−/−	28	38	76	¹⁰⁶
Caspase-8	ONT	z-IETD (+/−) -fmk	14	16.8 ^a	31.5–60.7 ^a	^{61, 97}
	ONT	IETD-CHO	14	NA	33.1	⁹⁷
	NMDA-RGC explants	IETD-fmk	2	18	27	¹³⁵
	30 min artery ligation	z-IETD-fmk	14	33.9	42.2	¹⁶¹
	30 min artery ligation	siCASP8	14	30.0 ^a	48.4 ^a	¹⁶¹
Caspase-8 and -9	ONT	z-IETD-fmk and z-LEHD-fmk	14	NA	38.7	⁹⁷
Caspase-9	ONT	z-LEHD- (+/−) fmk	14	16.8 ^a	29.1–34.9 ^a	^{61, 97}
	NMDA-RGC explants	LEHD-fmk	2	18	39	¹³⁵

Specific pharmacological inhibitors, gene knockdown (i.e., siRNA) or gene knockout (−/−) treatment are displayed with the percentage of surviving RGC in untreated and treated retinae.
^aFor calculations, values for uninjured Fluoro-Gold and RBPMS RGC counts not stated in Shabanzadeh et al.¹⁶¹ and values for identical animals (Sprague Dawley female adult rats) with Fluoro-Gold and RGC counts per mm² were used from Weishaupt et al.⁹⁷

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