Survival of retinal ganglion cells in vitro: the effect of conditioned medium from retinal cell aggregates.

The time course of degeneration of retinal ganglion cells was studied in vitro. We used the retinae of newborn hooded rats retrogradely labeled with horseradish peroxidase injected bilaterally into the superior colliculus to permit the identification of retinal ganglion cells in culture. We tested the effect of conditioned medium either from aggregates or from explants of retinal cells on the survival of the ganglion cells. Both conditioned media approximately doubled the survival of ganglion cells after 48-72 h in culture. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that retinal cells produce soluble trophic factors that influence ganglion cell survival.