Abstract:Objective To investigate the intervention effect of Nimodipine injected around eyeball of rabbit on retinal ganglion cell apoptosis caused by chronic intraocular hypertension. Methods Thirty healthy New-Zealand albino rabbits were randomly assigned to 5 groups. Group A is blank control group and the rest of the groups (B, C, D and E) were chronic intraocular hypertension (CIH) ones which were induced by compound Carbomer. Group B were injected by Saline Injection (SI). Group C, D and E were injected by Nimodipine with low (0.125 mg), medium (0.250 mg) and high (0.500 mg) dose, respectively. The models were executed at the 2nd week. The retinal tissues in the groups were detected by immunochemistry, TUNEL and HE to identify the differences. Result The expression level of Bcl-2 in group D and E were significantly higher than that in group B and C (P < 0.05). The expression of Bax in group B and C had a relatively high expression,while the expression of positive cells was decreased with the increase of NMD dose. The expression levels of Bax in group D and E were lower than those in group B and C (P < 0.05). With TUNEL method, the apoptosis expression in group D and E were significantly lower than that in group B and C (P < 0.05). Conclusion Nimodipine injected around eyeball can protect the retinal ganglion cells caused by chronic intraocular hypertension.