Fig 1: Glycogen redistribution through astrocyte Cx43. (A) Elevated (?, +35%) vs. contralateral (C) IOP in WT (Left) and transgenic (Right) mouse eyes. (B) In WT mice (Left), microbead-elevated (M) IOP reduces glycogen vs. naïve (N) optic nerve (#P = 0.005). Glycogen diminishes with elevated IOP after 4 d but increases at 1 and 2 wk vs. contralateral (C, *P = 0.05). For transgenic mice (Right), elevation decreases glycogen for both KO-Ctrl and KO vs. each respective naïve (#P = 0.02). In KO-Ctrl mice, glycogen decreases after 4 d elevation but increases after 1 wk vs. contralateral nerve (*P = 0.01); for KO, glycogen decreases with both elevations vs. contralateral (*P < 0.001). In KO-Ctrl, elevation increased glycogen compared to contralateral (*P = 0.04), while in KO the opposite occurred (*P < 0.001). (C) Western blots probing pAMPK, AMPK, and GPBB in naïve optic nerves (naïve GPBB Ctrl SEM ± 0.149, KO SEM ± 0.28; naïve pAMPK/AMPK Ctrl SEM ± 0.17, KO SEM ± 0.35) and in contralateral (C) vs. 4 d and 1- and 2-wk microbead (M) nerves (Upper). The pAMPK/AMPK ratio (Lower Left) increases in KO-Ctrl nerves (microbead and contralateral) vs. respective naïve (n = 6) for 4 d (n = 5) and 2 wk (n = 5) and in contralateral only at 1-wk (n = 6) microbead elevation (*P = 0.04); ratio in KO nerves (M and C) does not change vs. respective naïve (n = 6, P = 0.20) and is less than ratio in KO-ctrl contralateral for all times (n = 4, n = 7, n = 5; *P = 0.01). Ratio in KO-ctrl contralateral exceeds microbead at 1 wk (*P = 0.05), while microbead exceeds contralateral at 2 wk (*P = 0.02). Fold-change in GPBB (Lower Right) is increased at 4 d in KO-Ctrl contralateral vs. microbead nerves (*P = 0.04) and in KO microbead vs. contralateral and vs. KO-Ctrl microbead nerves (*P = 0.03). At 1 wk, GPBB increased vs. respective naïve in KO-Ctrl and KO nerves from both eyes (*P = 0.002) and in KO-Ctrl contralateral vs. microbead and vs. KO contralateral (*P = 0.04); GPBB increased more in KO microbead vs. contralateral (*P = 0.03).