AGE-RELATED-CHANGES IN NORMAL AND CATARACTOUS HUMAN LENS CRYSTALLINS,SEPARATED BY FAST-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

The water-soluble crystallins from normal human lenses (n = 32), catar actous lenses of diabetic patients (n = 9) and cataractous lenses of n ondiabetic patients (n = 9) were analyzed with fast-performance liquid chromatography. Six different crystallin classes were separated repro ducibly by chromatography on Superose 6. The fractions were identified as alpha(H), alpha(L), beta(H), beta(L1), beta(L2) and low-molecular- weight (LMW) crystallins by their elution order and molecular mass. Th e results obtained show that during lens aging there is a progressive increase in alpha(H)-crystallin and a decrease in alpha(L)-crystallin content, while no significant age-related changes were observed in the LMW fraction. Analysis of changes in crystallin content in human cata ractous lenses showed that apparently cataractogenesis can be describe d as an acceleration of the normal aging process. Important difference s were found between the chromatographic profiles of cataracts from di abetic and nondiabetic patients mainly in the LMW fraction, suggesting that in cataract formation of diabetics alternative mechanisms may be superimposed on the normal aging process.