Figure 4. Pro-regenerative effect of Sox11 in non-alpha-RGCs is enhanced by PTEN deletion.

(A) Representative images of optic nerves showing regenerating axons from different groups at 6–7 weeks after injury.

(B) Quantification of regenerating axons shown in (A).

(C) Images showing regenerating axons in ΔPTEN/Sox11-treated mice in the optic tract.

(D) RGC survival results at 6–7 weeks after injury.

(E) Retinal sections from ΔPTEN/Sox11-treated mice with FluoroGold (FG) injection to the distal optic nerve, and stained with RBPMS or TUJ1 antibodies.

(F) Quantification showing percentages of RBPMS- and TUJ1-co-stained cells among FG-positive cells shown in (E).

(G, H) Retinal images (G) and quantification (H) showing co-staining of FG-labeled RGCs with anti-OPN or SMI32. In ΔPTEN-treated animals, 80% of FG-labeled cells are both OPN-positive and SMI32-positive; however, none of the FG-labeled cells are co-stained with either OPN or SMI32 in ΔPTEN/Sox11-treated animals. Scale bar in (A) represents 500 µm. Scale bars in (C), (E) and (G) represent 100 µm. Data in (B) are expressed as mean ± SEM while data in (D), (F) and (H) are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 3–5). Significance levels in (B) are indicated by *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001 by ANOVA with Bonferroni posttests. Significance in (D) is indicated by ***, p < 0.001 by Welch’s t-test.