The rabbit optic nerve: fibre diameter spectrum, fibre count, and comparison with a retinal ganglion cell count.

This electron microscopic study indicates that the rabbit optic nerve contains 394,000 +/- 20,000 (p less than 0.05) nerve fibers, of which at least 98% are myelinated. The fibre diameter spectrum of the nerve is unimodal and ranges from 0.25-7 mum with its peak at 0.75 mum. The projection of the visual streak fibres is not apparent in local diameter spectra near the optic nerve head. Integration of a ganglion cell density map of the retina from another rabbit indicates a total ganglion cell count lying between 455,000 and 547,000. The optic nerve fibre and ganglion cell counts are both substantially greater than the maximum fibre count previously reported.