REDUCTION OF OCULAR BLOOD-FLOW RESULTS IN GLIAL FIBRILLARY ACIDIC PROTEIN (GFAP) EXPRESSION IN RAT RETINAL MULLER CELLS

Reduction of blood flow to the rat retina was achieved by either clamping both carotid arteries briefly (24 min) or combining clamping of the carotid arteries with permanent occlusion of the vertebral arteries. Analysis of retinas 6 days after operations showed that GFAP immunoreactivity is expressed throughout the retinal Muller cells, although this was variable in retinas from animals where only the carotid arteries were clamped. GFAP immunoreactivity was not associated with retinal Muller cells from control animals and no obvious neuronal damage was observed in retinas from operated animals. These data suggest that Muller-cell GFAP expression may be used as an index to follow possible processes leading to an ischemic insult.