Diabetic cataract formation: potential role of glycosylation of lens crystallins.

Abstract
A high glucose concentration in vivo or an increased glucose or G-6-P concentration in vitro led to the glycosylation of .epsilon.-amino groups of lysine residues in bovine and rat lens crystallins. In vitro this glycosylation imparted an increased susceptibility of the crystallins to sulfhydryl oxidation. Disulfide crosslinks resulted in the formation of high MW aggregates and an opalescence in the crystallin solutions. The addition of reducing agents prevented and reserved the formation of high MW aggregates and the opalescence of the crystallins. These phenomena suggested a new interpretation of previous results on cataract formation and a new approach for development of drugs to prevent cataracts.

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