Publications by authors named "Spring R M Farrell"
Purpose: To characterize in vivo dendritic changes in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) after acute (optic nerve transection, ONT) and chronic (experimental glaucoma, EG) optic nerve injury.
Methods: ONT and EG (microbead model) were carried out in Thy1-YFP mice in which the entire RGC dendritic arbor was imaged with confocal fluorescence scanning laser ophthalmoscopy over two weeks in the ONT group and over two and six months, respectively, in two (groups 1 and 2) EG groups. Sholl analysis was used to quantify dendritic structure with the parameters: area under the curve (AUC), radius of the dendritic field, peak number of intersections (PI), and distance to the PI (PD).
Background: Sholl analysis is used to quantify the dendritic complexity of neurons. Differences between two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) Sholl analysis can exist in neurons with extensive axial stratification of dendrites, however, in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), only 2D analysis is typically reported despite varying degrees of stratification within the retinal inner plexiform layer. We determined the impact of this stratification by comparing 2D and 3D analysis of the same RGCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: GCaMP3 is a genetically encoded calcium indicator for monitoring intracellular calcium dynamics. We characterized the expression pattern and functional properties of GCaMP3 in the Thy1-GCaMP3 transgenic mouse retina.
Methods: To determine the specificity of GCaMP3 expression, Thy1-GCaMP3 (B6; CBA-Tg(Thy1-GCaMP3)6Gfng/J) retinas were processed for immunohistochemistry with anti-green fluorescent protein (anti-GFP, to enhance GCaMP3 fluorescence), anti-RBPMS (retinal ganglion cell [RGC]-specific marker), and antibodies against amacrine cell markers (ChAT, GABA, GAD67, syntaxin).