Purpose: To study age-related changes in the rat optic nerve head.
Methods: Eyes of young (2 months) and senescent (20 months) Wistar rats were stained with antibodies against collagen type I, III, IV, VI, laminin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and connexin 43.
Results: In the senescent animals, an increase of collagen type I and VI, and of connexin 43 was observed in the lamina cribrosa region. In addition, connexin 43 was newly formed in the optic nerve sheath of old animals. Collagen type III and IV, laminin and GFAP did not show age-related alterations.
Conclusion: The described changes differ substantially from those described in the rat glaucoma model. As the rodent age-related changes are similar to those found in the human lamina cribrosa, the rat model seems to be useful for studying the influence of age on the onset of glaucoma.