mTORC2 activation protects retinal ganglion cells via Akt signaling after autophagy induction in traumatic optic nerve injury

Traumatic optic neuropathy is an injury to the optic nerve that leads to vision loss. Autophagy is vital for cell survival and cell death in central nervous system injury, but the role of autophagy in traumatic optic nerve injury remains uncertain. Optic nerve crush is a robust model of traumatic optic nerve injury. p62 siRNA and rapamycin are autophagy inducers and have different neuroprotective effects in the central nervous system. In this study, p62 and rapamycin induced autophagy, but only p62 siRNA treatment provided a favorable protective effect in visual function and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) survival. Moreover, the number of macrophages at the optic nerve lesion site was lower in the p62-siRNA-treated group than in the other groups. p62 siRNA induced more M2 macrophage polarization than rapamycin did. Rapamycin inhibited both mTORC1 and mTORC2 activation, whereas p62 siRNA inhibited only mTORC1 activation and maintained mTORC2 and Akt activation. Inhibition of mTORC2-induced Akt activation resulted in blood–optic nerve barrier disruption. Combined treatment with rapamycin and the mTORC2 activator SC79 improved RGC survival. Overall, our findings suggest that mTORC2 activation after autophagy induction is necessary for the neuroprotection of RGCs in traumatic optic nerve injury and may lead to new clinical applications.