Lipid fluorophores of the human crystalline lens with cataract

Abstract

It has been established that the development of cataract is accompanied by the formation of various fluorophores in the lipid fraction of the lens. These lipid-fluorescing products have been separated chromatographically according to polarity and molecular weight. It is shown that the initial stages of the development of cataract are characterized by the appearance of lipid fluorophores in the near ultraviolet and violet regions of the spectrum (excitation maximum 302-330 nm, emission maximum 411 nm) with low polarity and a small molecular weight; the maturing of the cataract is characterized by an increase in the intensity of the long-wave fluorescence of the lipids in the blue-green region (430-480 nm) and by the formation of polymeric high-molecular-weight fluorescing lipid products with high polarity. It has been demonstrated that the appearance of lipid fluorophores in the crystalline lens is associated with the free radical oxidative modification of the phospholipids and fatty acids in cataract.