Comparison of in vitro proteolysis products of the normal human lens with putative in vivo proteolysis products of the cataractous lens.
Treatment of normal lens homogenates with trypsin results in the production of polypeptides of approximately 4,000 and 8,000 daltons. Peptide maps of these components are very similar to poly-peptides of comparable molecular weight found only in cataracts with brunescent and opaque nuclei. Together, these results demonstrate that putative proteolysis products produced in vivo during human cataractogenesis can be mimiced in vitro by the addition of exogeneous proteases to the normal lens homogenate.
Cataract↗