Purification of retinal ganglion cells using low-pressure flow cytometry.

Purified Retinal Ganglion Cells (RGCs) for study have been a valuable tool in the study of neural regeneration and in the development of therapies to treat glaucoma. Traditionally, RGCs have been isolated from early postnatal rats and mice, and more recently from human derived retinal organoids using a two-step immunopanning technique based upon the expression of Thy-1. This technique, however, limits the time periods from which RGCs can be isolated, missing the earliest born RGCs at which time the greatest stage of axon growth occurs, as well as being limited in its use with models of retinal degeneration as Thy-1 is downregulated following injury.