Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (May 2022)

The Effect of Aging on Retinal Function and Retinal Ganglion Cell Morphology Following Intraocular Pressure Elevation

  • Pei Ying Lee,
  • Da Zhao,
  • Vickie H. Y. Wong,
  • Vicki Chrysostomou,
  • Vicki Chrysostomou,
  • Jonathan G. Crowston,
  • Jonathan G. Crowston,
  • Bang V. Bui

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.859265
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

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Aging and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) are two major risk factors for glaucomatous optic neuropathy; a condition characterized by the selective, progressive injury, and subsequent loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). We examined how age modified the capacity for RGCs to functionally recover following a reproducible IOP elevation (50 mmHg for 30 min). We found that RGC functional recovery (measured using electroretinography) was complete by 7 days in 3-month-old mice but was delayed in 12-month-old mice until 14 days. At the 7-day recovery endpoint when RGC function had recovered in young but not older eyes, we examined RGC structural responses to IOP-related stress by analyzing RGC dendritic morphology. ON-RGC cell volume was attenuated following IOP elevation in both young and older mice. We also found that following IOP elevation OFF-RGC dendritic morphology became less complex per cell volume in young mice, an effect that was not observed in older eyes. Our data suggest that adaptations in OFF-RGCs in young eyes were associated with better functional recovery 7 days after IOP elevation. Loss of RGC cellular adaptations may account for delayed functional recovery in older eyes.

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