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Editors Selection IGR 16-4

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Comment by Keith Martin on:

23848 Axonal regeneration induced by repetitive electrical stimulation of crushed optic nerve in adult rats, Tagami Y; Kurimoto T; Miyoshi T et al., Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology, 2009; 53: 257-266

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The study by Tagami et al. suggests that transcorneal electrical stimulation (TES) leads to enhanced survival and axon regeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGC) after optic nerve crush. This effect was correlated with increased IGF-1 expression in M�ller cells. Interestingly, application of an IGF-1 receptor antagonist inhibited the enhanced RGC axon regeneration response after optic nerve crush and daily TES, though had no effect on the enhanced RGC survival observed.
This is an interesting study that confirms and extends other findings on the effects of electrical stimulation on axon regeneration to the optic nerve injury model and suggests that stimulated RGC survival and axon regeneration may be mediated via different pathways. Similar effects have been reported in spinal cord injury.
The experiments are generally well designed and the results carefully discussed. One caveat is the immunohistochemical results of IGF-1 labeling in the retina. The results described partly do not completely correlate with the immunohistochemistry presented. In particular, Figures 3 C and F appear identical even though they are described as representing different conditions. The authors should explain this discrepancy.

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