Regional variations in electrolytes related to resistivity during bovine lens maturation

Little is known regarding the behavior of ions in protein-rich cytoplasm characteristic of lens fiber cells. Resistivity is dependent upon the electrolyte concentration available to conduct an applied current and the mobility of these electrolytes. In the present study, the relative importance of these factors in the increasing cortico-nuclear resistivity gradient reported for both calf and bovine lens homogenates was analysed. Relative ion mobility for regions of the lens was determined by the calculation of the ratio of resistivity of lens homogenates to resistivity of aqueous solutions of freely mobile KCl at the same molarity. The increasing resistivity ratios in the calf cortex, transition zone and nucleus suggest an increasingly impaired ion mobility from the outer to the inner lens regions.