Monoclonal antibody C38 labels surviving retinal ganglion cells after peripheral nerve graft in axotomized rat retina.

C38 is a monoclonal antibody that labels retinal ganglion cells in both intact and axotomized rat retinas. We report here that C38 labeled retinal ganglion cells that survived after optic nerve section and peripheral nerve graft in rats. Furthermore, with combination of the retrograde labeling, we succeeded to distinguish surviving retinal ganglion cells without axonal regeneration from those with regenerating axon.