{"doi":"10.1167/iovs.65.4.19","title":"Comparison of Brn3a and RBPMS Labeling to Assess Retinal Ganglion Cell Loss During Aging and in a Model of Optic Neuropathy","abstract":"Purpose: Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss provides the basis for diagnosis and stage determination of many optic neuropathies, and quantification of RGC survival is a critical outcome measure in models of optic neuropathy. This study examines the accuracy of manual RGC counting using two selective markers, Brn3a and RBPMS. Methods: Retinal flat mounts from 1- to 18-month-old C57BL/6 mice, and from mice after microbead (MB)-induced intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation, are immunostained with Brn3a and/or RBPMS antibodies. Four individuals masked to the experimental conditions manually counted labeled RGCs in three copies of five images, and inter- and intra-person reliability was evaluated by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: A larger population (approximately 10% higher) of RGCs are labeled with RBPMS than Brn3a antibody up to 6 months of age, but differences decrease to approximately 1% at older ages. Both RGC-labeled populations significantly decrease with age. MB-induced IOP elevation is associated with a significant decrease of both Brn3a- and RBPMS-positive RGCs. Notably, RGC labeling with Brn3a provides more consistent cell counts than RBPMS in interpersonal (ICC = 0.87 to 0.11, respectively) and intra-personal reliability (ICC = 0.97 to 0.66, respectively). Conclusions: Brn3a and RBPMS markers are independently capable of detecting significant decreases of RGC number with age and in response to IOP elevation despite RPBMS detecting a larger number of RGCs up to 6 months of age. Brn3a labeling is less prone to manual cell counting variability than RBPMS labeling. Overall, either marker can be used as a single marker to detect significant changes in RGC survival, each offering distinct advantages.","journal":"Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science","year":2024,"id":433877,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":13,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.8697,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":344828,"name":"Brahim Chaqour","orcid":"0000-0002-8516-4324","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1107913,"name":"Nuala O’Neill","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":430398,"name":"Kimberly Dine","orcid":"0000-0001-5569-7261","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1240055,"name":"Neha Sarabu","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":258447,"name":"Gui‐Shuang Ying","orcid":"0000-0002-5752-1355","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":430400,"name":"Kenneth S. Shindler","orcid":"0000-0003-2417-258X","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":263080,"name":"Ahmara G. Ross","orcid":"0000-0002-7527-3121","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1240054,"name":"Miranda Meng","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":37,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:59:49.434790Z","pmid":"38587440","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}