Figure 4.

Hematoxylin and eosin–stained vertical retinal sections from the region 4 disc diameters below the optic disc, comparing the retinal histology 2 weeks after retinal ischemia. Both the sham treatment and the no treatment eyes show reduced retinal thickness, disorganization, and loss of inner and outer nuclear layers (INL, ONL), loss of inner and outer segments (IS, OS) of the photoreceptors, vacuolization of the ganglion cell layer (GCL), and cell loss and pigment clumping of the RPE. In contrast, the oxygenated eye shows good retinal thickness and well-preserved anatomy compared with the contralateral nonoperated normal rabbit eye. The RPE/choroid is shown at higher magnification in the lower panels. There is prominent choroidal atrophy in the sham-treated and nontreated groups, whereas the oxygenated group shows only mild atrophy of the choroidal vasculature. Scale bar, 20 μm.