Protein carbonylation and glycation in human lenses

It has been observed protein carbonylation and glycation in the lens epithe lial cell fractions of lenses in people with mature cataract. We used lense s of diabetic patients, weak and strong cigarette smokers and people who ha d senile cataract. The protein glycation is the highest in a diabetic senil e cataract patients and the lowest in non-diabetic senile cataract patients . The protein carbonylation is extremely high in mitochondrial epithelial c ells of the strong cigarette smokers. These results show that the glycation and carbonylation of the human lens proteins are the part of the cataract development in people. Specific factors, such as high glucose in diabetes a nd the tobacco smoke (in cigarette smokers), can change the lens structure, thus stimulating cataract development.