Temporal changes in retinal vessel density and optic nerve blood flow after optic nerve crush in mice

A study in mice found that optic nerve injury causes a rapid and sustained decrease in retinal blood vessel density, followed by a delayed reduction in blood flow to the optic nerve head. These vascular changes coincided with distinct patterns of inflammatory and glial cell activity in the retina and optic nerve. Using a mouse optic nerve crush model, researchers observed retinal vessel density significantly decreased from day 4 through day 28 after injury. This early reduction was accompanied by increased expression of inflammatory mediators, glial activation markers, and a necroptosis-related gene in the retina. In contrast, optic nerve head blood flow showed a non-significant reduction on day 4, becoming significant from days 7 through 28, coinciding with later glial activation and A1 astrocyte-related responses. The findings suggest that reduced retinal vessel density and optic nerve blood flow after neuronal injury are linked to inflammatory and glial responses. The research was supported by Japanese scientific grants and published as an open-access article under a Creative Commons license.