Laser capture microdissection RNA sequencing of zebrafish optic nerve regeneration

Zebrafish have the ability to successfully regenerate the connection from the eye to the brain following optic nerve injury in adult. To identify differentially expressed genes in the affected tissues, we performed laser capture mRNA sequencing of the retinal ganglion cell layer, inner nuclear layer, outer nuclear layer, and bulk optic nerve in 3 day post optic nerve injury versus naive control animals. The 3 day post injury time point was chosen as a time when axons are actively regenerating throughout the optic nerve to the optic chiasm. These data provide a resource for identifying genes expressed in each tissue and their differential expression during optic nerve regeneration.