In the present study, we hypothesized that the microtubule-associated protein Tau may influence retinal neuron survival and axonal regeneration after optic nerve injury. To test this hypothesis, the density of retinal ganglion cells was evaluated by immunostaining retinal flat-mounts for RNA-binding protein with multiple splicing (RBPMS) two weeks after optic nerve micro-crush lesion in Tau-deprived (Tau knock-out (KO)) and wild-type (WT) mice. Axon growth was determined on longitudinal sections of optic nerves after anterograde tracing. Our results showed that the number of surviving retinal ganglion cells and growing axons did not significantly vary between WT and Tau KO animals. Moreover, sustained activation of the neuronal growth program with ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) resulted in a similar increase in surviving neurons and in growing axons in WT and Tau KO mice. Taken together, our data suggest that Tau does not influence axonal regeneration or neuronal survival.
Keywords: CNTF; Tau; axonal regeneration; optic nerve crush; retina; retinal ganglion cell survival.