Nerve fiber layer thinning lags retinal ganglion cell density following crush axonopathy.

Purpose: We investigated the progressive nature of neurodegenerative structural changes following injury to retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons using quantifiable and noninvasive in vivo imaging techniques.

Methods: To track degenerative RGC progression in retinas following optic nerve crush (ONC) injury, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) was used to quantitate the RGC nerve fiber layer (NFL) density. The RGC soma cell density (RCD) was measured by confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (CSLO).