Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor facilitates recovery of retinal function following retinal ischemic injury.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether systemically administered granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) can protect against acute ischemic reperfusion injury. Two groups of anesthetized adult male Lewis rats (n = 8 per group) were subjected to an acute (45 min) episode of retinal ischemic injury followed by subcutaneous administration of vehicle (5% dextrose) or G-CSF (0.1 mg/kg/day) once per day x 5 days.