Figure 3. Calcineurin activation caused retinal ganglion cell (RGC) somal shrinkage and dendritic degeneration. GFP-M mice were intravitreally injected with AAV carrying full-length calcineurin (CaNwt) in one eye and AAV carrying cleaved calcineurin (CaNCA) in the other eye. A: A sample GFP-expressing RGC displayed well labeled dendrites. Arrowheads point at the axon. B: The RGC in (A) was digitally traced in NeuronJ. Soma area, dendritic field area, and total dendrite length were measured. Sholl analysis was applied. C: A few RGCs had GFP-expressing soma, but the higher-order dendrites or the entire dendritic tree were not visible. These RGCs were rare, but more in the CaNCA-expressing retinas. They were not included in the morphological analysis. D: RGCs had smaller soma areas in the CaNCA-expressing retinas. (All results were mean±standard error of the mean, two-tailed unpaired Student t test). E: RGCs had smaller dendritic field areas in the CaNCA-expressing retinas. F: RGCs had shorter total dendrite length in the CaNCA expressing retinas. G: The soma areas of all the RGCs were plotted against the dendritic field areas. The CaNCA-expressing RGCs cluster in the lower-left corner, which indicates they had smaller soma areas and smaller dendritic field areas. H: Sholl analysis showed fewer RGC dendritic branches were present in CaNCA-expressing retinas. (*p<0.05, two-tailed unpaired Student t test).