what kind of specialized tissue is the optic nerve
Although such relationships, i.e., between tumor development and stiffness, have been established for a variety of cancer types, the mechanical properties of optic nerve glioma, as well as their underlying acellular causes, are unknown. The normal optic nerve is a complex tissue composed of numerous distinct cellular and extracellular components. Similarly, optic nerve gliomas harbor a unique collection of neoplastic (astrocytes and stem cells) and non-neoplastic (endothelial cells and microglia) cell types embedded within a rich ECM.