Fig. 8. Neuroprotection using AAV2 TrkB-2A-mBDNF in rats with laser-induced ocular hypertension (OHT).

a Schematic of the procedure performed. Vectors were administered 3 weeks prior to the first laser treatment (5 µl, 1 × 10¹⁰ vector particles/eye unless stated otherwise). b Intraocular pressure post intravitreal injection (0–21 days) and then post laser (21–65 days) across the four groups. c Axonal counts from within the optic nerve 6 weeks after the onset of OHT. d RGC (Brn3A+ cells) counts from the entire rat retinal flat mount (24 images/retina). e Peripheral RGC (Brn3A+ cells) counts from 16 images around the edge of the retina. f-fii Representative images through the optic nerve used to calculate cross-sectional area of each nerve. Black boxes (g–gii) highlight a single region used for axon quantification. h–hii Representative images of retinal flatmounts 6 weeks after OHT onset for each of the treatment groups. i–iii TrkB expression on RGCs transduced with AAV2 TrkB-2A-mBDNF compared to untreated and AAV2 Null vector transduced retinas. Control (untreated) n = 19, Null n = 7, (low titre) TrkB-2A-mBDNF n = 7, (high titre) TrkB-2A-mBDNF n = 8. **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 compared to AAV2 Null transduced eyes which had OHT. Low titre = 1 × 10⁹ vector particles/eye, high titre = 1 × 10¹⁰ vector particles/eye. Graphs show mean ± SD with P values obtained via a one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni-modified t-tests for multiple comparisons