PROPERTIES OF ELECTROCHEMICALLY ACTIVE COMPONENTS IN MAMMALIAN VITREOUS-HUMOR

Antioxidants are considered to have important roles in protecting the eye against radiation, oxygen toxicity and other threats. Several wate r-soluble electrochemically-active compounds that might function as an tioxidants in vitreous humor of rabbit, rat and bovine eyes were ident ified and quantitated. In that the rat is a nocturnal animal species a nd the other two are diurnal, the results allow a tentative evaluation on the comparative physiology of light-dark behavior patterns that in fluence this ocular fluid. All analyses were performed by HPLC with el ectrochemical detection. The utility of this approach is that componen ts of vitreous humor can be identified by their retention time and by their characteristic response when the voltages of the two sensing ele ctrodes are progressively brought together. Four compounds regarded as functional antioxidants in the animal kingdom were identified and qua ntitated. Other antioxidants known to be present in several biological fluids are not present at detectable or significant levels in vitreou s humor; metabolites or precursors of these might be present in trace quantities. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.