Fig. S4.

Melanopsin promotes regeneration by enhancing mTOR. (A) Effect of rapamycin on mTOR expression. Images of retinal sections from WT mice that were injected with AAV-Mela at 2 wk after crush and then treated with either vehicle or rapamycin. Sections show pS6 (green) and Tuj1 (red) labeling. Quantification of the percentage of Tuj1⁺ RGCs that express pS6 in mice that were treated with vehicle or rapamycin. Student’s t test, *P < 0.05, three mice in each group. (B) Whole-mount retinas from mTOR floxed, and Raptor floxed mice at 2 wk after crush. Mice were coinjected with AAV-Cre and AAV-Mela. Retinas were stained with Tuj1 (red) and pS6 (green) antibodies. pS6 expression was suppressed by mTOR KO and Raptor KO. (C) Quantification of RGC survival. (D) Retinal sections from WT mice that were treated with either AAV-Mela or AAV-GFP at 2 wk after optic nerve crush. The sections were labeled with Tuj1, pERK, and pSTAT3 antibodies. (Scale bars: A, 15 μm; B, 50 μm; D, 20 μm.)