The causes of clouding of the lens begin to clear up

Cataract, which is the leading cause of deterioration and loss of vision in old age, develops as a result of degradation of the strictly ordered structure of the eye lens, consisting of protein molecules of crystallin. During the aging process, the crystallin is gradually destroyed, as a result of which the lens loses transparency and begins to scatter the light passing through it. In addition to the elderly, diabetes, exposure to ultraviolet light and corticosteroid drugs are risk factors for cataract development.

Both the cataract itself and the primary mechanisms of its formation have been studied very poorly. Scientists at the University of Missouri-Columbia, working under the guidance of Dr. Krishna Sharma, have found that tiny fragments of the protein crystallin play an important role in this process.

They analyzed the composition of a large number of human donor lenses and found that cataract-affected lenses accumulate four times more short (10-20 amino acids) fragments of crystallin than samples obtained from people who died at a young age. These fragments tend to interact with full-fledged crystallin molecules, thus disrupting their natural structure and transferring them to an insoluble state.

An interesting fact is that dangerous protein fragments are a byproduct of the eye's attempts at self-healing. When the crystallin is damaged, other proteins break it down for the purpose of subsequent removal, however, in case of inferiority of this process, the remaining fragments aggravate the developing damage.

Article by Puttur Santhoshkumar et al. "Significance of Interactions of Low Molecular Weight Crystallin Fragments in Lens Aging and Cataract Formation" published in the March issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of ScienceDaily 

24.03.2008