Partial Optic Nerve Transection in Rats: A Model Established with a New Operative Approach to Assess Secondary Degeneration of Retinal Ganglion Cells

Previous studies have shown that the secondary degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) occurs commonly in glaucoma. Partial optic nerve transection is considered a useful and reproducible model. Compared with other optic nerve injury models used commonly for assessing secondary degeneration, e.g. complete optic nerve transection and optic nerve crush models, the partial optic nerve transection model is superior as it distinguishes primary from secondary degeneration in situ. Therefore, it serves as an excellent tool for evaluating secondary degeneration. This study describes a novel operative approach of partial optic nerve transection by directly accessing the area of the retrobulbar optic nerve through the orbital lateral wall of the eyeball. Moreover, we present a newly designed, low cost surgical instrument to assist with transection. As demonstrated by the representative results in distinguishing the boundary of primary and secondary injury areas, the new approach and instrument ensures high efficiency and stability of the model by providing adequate space for surgical operation. This in turn makes it easy to separate the meningeal sheath and ophthalmic vessels from the optic nerve before transection. An additional benefit is that this space-saving operative approach improves the investigators' ability to administer drugs, carriers, or selective RGC tracers to the stump of the partially transected optic nerve, allowing the exploration of mechanisms behind secondary injury in RGCs, in a new way.