Effects of acute delivery of endothelin-1 on retinal ganglion cell loss in the rat.

The vasoconstrictive peptide, Endothelin-1 (ET-1) has been found at elevated levels in glaucomatous eyes. In this study, a single 5mul intraocular injection of ET-1 was injected into the rat eye in order to characterize an in vivo retinal ganglion cell (RGC)-specific cell death model. The most effective concentration of ET-1 at inducing RGC loss at 2 weeks post-injection was determined using 5, 50 and 500mum concentrations of ET-1.