FIG. 9.

Microglia are activated in retinas of blast-injured animals. The IBA-1+ microglia in the retinal nerve-fiber layer (RNFL) and retinal ganglion-cell layer of retinal whole-mounts exposed to blast injury. Retinas from sham animals had a ramified morphology at 4 h, 24 h, and one week (A, B, and C, respectively). At 4 h, 24 h, and one week post-injury (E, F, and G, respectively), blast-injured retinas demonstrated hyper-ramified and bushy microglia, suggesting activation from injury. A two-dimensional en face view of a reconstructed z-stack acquired repeatedly in 0.5 μm confocal sections along the z-axis of retinal whole mounts demonstrates magnified representative images of ramified, resting sham and hyperramified, activated blast microglia shown in D and H, respectively (X63, original magnification). X25, original magnification for A–C and E–G; en face view with the RNFL facing up. Scale bar: 50 μm.