Human Lens Proteins Examined by Immunochemical and Ultracentrifugal Techniques

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Abstract
Introduction The development of new immunochemical techniques has greatly enhanced our knowledge of the soluble proteins of the lens. Rao et al,1 using Oudin's agar diffusion test,2 demonstrated that bovine lens extract contains six soluble antigenic components, while François et al,3 combining agar diffusion and electrophoretic techniques,4 found eight such components. Halbert and Fitzgerald,5 working with the Ouchterlony agar diffusion technique,6,7 found five antigenic components in the lens of the frog and four in that of the fish. Maisel and Langman,8 and Konyukhov and Lishtvan,9 using the agar diffusion test, were able to demonstrate the presence of 7 to 13 antigenic components in the adult chick lens. In later work, Langman and Maisel10 succeeded in isolating the three main proteins of the chick lens (α-crystallin: molecular weight (MW) approx 1,000,000; β-crystallin: MW 200,000 to 300,000; and γ-crystallin: MW 60,000), and suggested