Figure 1. Viable purified retinal ganglion cells in culture after 48 h. A, B: Representative phase contrast micrographs showing retinal ganglion cell (RGC) controls (A, pure media) and RGCs after treatment with histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi; B, VPA) after 48 h in culture. RGCs (white arrows) can be discriminated from other retinal cells (black arrows) by their large cell diameter and fine neurites with branching growth cones, thus fulfilling the criteria for being counted as viable RGCs. Larger numbers of degenerated RGCs (asterisk in A) were present in the control wells. Each scale bar is 50 µm.