The proteome of normal human retrobulbar optic nerve and sclera

The optic nerve is a white matter tract that conveys visual information to the brain. The sclera comprises the white, protective outer layer of the eye. A characterization of the proteome of normal human retrobulbar optic nerve and sclera may facilitate studies of the eye. We conducted a proteomic analysis of optic nerve and sclera from five adults. Proteins were fractionated using SDS-PAGE. After in-gel digestion, peptides were analyzed using LC-MS/MS on an Orbitrap Elite mass spectrometer. We identified 2711 non-redundant proteins in retrobulbar optic nerve and 1945 non-redundant proteins in sclera. Optic nerve proteins included proteins expressed by oligodendrocytes (laminin, proteolipid protein, fibronectin), myelin proteins (myelin basic protein, myelin-associated glycoprotein), and paranodal structural proteins (ankyrin β, spectrin). Sclera included 18 collagen protein chains, small leucine-rich proteoglycans (decorin, biglycan, lumican, keratocan, prolargin, fibromodulin, mimecan), non-collagenous glycoproteins (fibronectin, vitronectin, laminin), extracellular matrix proteins (thrombospondins 1–4, dystroglycan, transgelins 1–3), and integrins alpha-V, alpha-1 and 2, beta-1, -2, and -5. Twenty-one unambiguous alternative splicing protein isoforms were identified in optic nerve and ten unambiguous alternative splicing protein isoforms were identified in sclera. The mass spectrometry proteomics data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium via the PRIDE partner repository with the dataset identifier PXD001581.