Fig. 4

Glaucoma RGCs subjected to ocular hypertensive stress demonstrate autophagy deficits. A, B Immunostaining labeled the level of the mTORC1 effector pS6^Ser240/244 and exhibited robust activity in the ganglion cell layer (GCL), co-labeled with RBPMS in B, and inner nuclear layer (INL) in control mouse retina. Scale bar: 25 μm. C–E Under ocular hypertension, immunostaining and associated quantification demonstrated that the level of pS6^Ser240/244 decreased in mouse RGCs (n = 3 mice/group, 2 images/mice; t-test, *p = 0.011). F–H Western blot verified changes in protein expression of LC3-I, LC3-II, LAMP1, and LC3-II/I ratio in control or glaucoma mouse retinas with ocular hypertension (OHT) (n = 6 for each control and OHT; t-test, LC3-I p = 0.122, LC3-II *p = 0.034, LAMP1 ***p = 0.0004, LC3-II/I *p = 0.042). I–L Immunostaining displayed the elevation of LC3 and LAMP1 in RBPMS-expressing RGCs after ocular hypertension. Scale bar: 25 μm. Data are all represented as mean values ± SEM