Figure 1.

Experimental design and animal groups. R7050 toxicity was studied at 0.2 mM in intact retinas, which were analyzed 5 days after administration. As vehicle control groups, we assayed R7050 1 mM vehicle (5% DMSO in saline) since it has been published that at this concentration is toxic for neurons (Galvao et al., 2014). Two groups were done, intact + i.v. of 5% DMSO and ONC + i.v. of DMSO analyzed 5 days later. To reduce the number of animals, control groups for 1% DMSO (R7050 0.2 mM vehicle) were not done since in our conditions neither the population of RGCs nor their loss after axotomy was affected by an i.v. injection of 5% DMSO. Likewise, intraperitoneal vehicle of R7050 and intravitreal vehicle of BDNF groups were not done because we have already shown that those vehicle formulations and administration routes do not have a negative effect in the retina (Galindo-Romero et al., 2013b; Di Pierdomenico et al., 2018). i.v, intravitreal injection; i.p., intraperitoneal injection.