Cholinergic Potentiation of Restoration of Visual Function after Optic Nerve Damage in Rats

Figure 2

Brightness discrimination capacity and visual performance of the rats before and after the partial optic nerve crush or sham surgery. The visual performance evaluated by the VIST was characterized for the 3 groups: sham (blue), ONC/DPZ (red), and ONC/saline (green). Two parameters were calculated: the success rate (percentage of correct choices (a), (b)) and the brightness discrimination threshold (c), (d). VIST was performed before (pre-ONC) and after the ONC for 4 weeks. (a), (c) In comparison to the pre-ONC value, the ONC/saline and ONC/DPZ group percentage of correct choices (a) and brightness discrimination (c) showed a significant reduction after the ONC (, ONC/saline compared to pre-ONC; ^#, ONC/saline compared to pre-ONC). (b), (d) Success rate and brightness discrimination were partially restored after the crush in both ONC/saline and ONC/DPZ groups, but the last group was performing better than ONC/saline group. Points in (b), (d) represent the testing session number (3 tests per week).

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