Whole-Mount Immunostaining and Automatic Counting of Mouse Retinal Ganglion Cells

Summary

This protocol describes the procedure for isolating the whole-mount mouse retina and performing immunostaining to label all retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). The process is followed by imaging and automatically counting RGCs using AI-based software, providing a simple, fast, and accurate method for quantifying RGCs in the entire mouse retina.

Abstract

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness globally, characterized by a complex pathogenic mechanism that makes vision restoration challenging. Mice serve as valuable animal models for studying the pathogenesis and treatment of glaucoma due to their relatively homogenous genetic background and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), which structurally resemble those in humans. Accurate assessment of RGC damage and treatment outcomes in mouse glaucoma models requires determining the RGC number across the entire retina. This protocol outlines a comprehensive method involving the isolation of the whole retina, labeling RGCs with specific antibodies, and rapid, accurate automatic counting of RGCs using an AI-based program. The streamlined approach allows for efficient and precise quantification of RGC numbers in mouse retinas, facilitating the evaluation of RGC degeneration and potential therapeutic interventions. By enabling researchers to assess the extent of RGC damage, this protocol contributes to a deeper understanding of glaucoma pathogenesis and aids in developing effective treatment strategies to manage and prevent vision loss.

Introduction

Glaucoma is characterized by the progressive death of ganglion cells, which poses a significant challenge for sight restoration^1,2. This disease is a major focus of ophthalmic research due to its prevalence and impact on vision³. Mouse models are indispensable in glaucoma
research due to their homogeneous genetic background, high reproductive capacity, and the similarity of their ganglion cell properties to humans⁴. The primary goal of this method is to accurately quantify retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in mouse models, which is....

Protocol

The procedure complied with the guidelines of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology for using animals in research and was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital. C57Bl/6J male mice (2 months old) were used in this study. Figure 1 illustrates the overall procedure described here. The details of the reagents and equipment used are listed in the Table of Materials.

Discussion

This protocol provides a method for determining all retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in a mouse retina, which can be used to monitor the progression of RGC degeneration in mouse models for glaucoma studies. The mouse retina is a delicate nerve tissue⁵, and isolating whole-mount retinas from mouse eyes requires repeated practice. During experimentation, it was found that the fixation time significantly affects retina morphology. For mice around 2 weeks of age, a fixation time of 20 min is sufficient t.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
1× PBS	Servicebio	G4202
Alexa594-conjugated Goat Anti-Rabbit IgG  (H+L)	ThermoFisher	A-11012
Anti-BRN3A antibody [EPR23257-285]	Abcam	ab245230
AutoCount software			https://github.com/MOEMIL/Intelligent-quantifying-RGCs
Cloud disk	Google drive link		https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yOEsBvil6KEdZFa5ENQxB6
Cloud disk	Baidu link	Extraction code: g44k	https://pan.baidu.com/s/1lccg1OVbeudsp2VtnqxWZg
Marker	Sharpie
Normal Donkey Serum	Biosharp, Labgic	25030081
Paraformaldehyde	Macklin	P804536
ProClean 300	Beyotime	ST853
Sucrose	BBI, Sangon	A610498
Triton X-100	BioFroxx, neoFroxx	1139ML100