The Susceptibility of Retinal Ganglion Cells to Optic Nerve Injury is Type Specific

Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death occurs in many eye diseases, such as glaucoma and traumatic optic neuropathy (TON). Increasing evidence suggests that the susceptibility of RGCs varies to different diseases in an RGC type-dependent manner. We previously showed that the susceptibility of several genetically identified RGC types to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) excitotoxicity differs significantly. In this study, we characterize the susceptibility of the same RGC types to optic nerve crush (ONC). We show that the susceptibility of these RGC types to ONC varies significantly, in which BD-RGCs are the most resistant RGC type while W3-RGCs are the most sensitive cells to ONC. We also show that the survival rates of BD-RGCs and J-RGCs after ONC are significantly higher than their survival rates after NMDA excitotoxicity. These results are consistent with the conclusion that the susceptibility of RGCs to ONC varies in an RGC type-dependent manner. Further, the susceptibilities of the same types of RGCs to ONC and NMDA excitotoxicity are significantly different. These are valuable insights for understanding of the selective susceptibility of RGCs to various pathological insults and the development of a strategy to protect RGCs from death in disease conditions.