[Effect of vibration on crystalline lens transparency]

It was demonstrated experimentally that the transparency of the eye lenses diminishes under the influence of a prolonged vibration. Investigations were performed in a group of rabbits which were subjected to a long-lasting exposition to mechanical vibration of 10 Hz throughout a period of 5 months. The transparency of the extracted lenses was evaluated by spectrophotometry and compared with lenses of 2 control groups. Group 1 consisted of rabbits which in the same period of 5 months were subjected to a continuous neon illumination of 1200 lx intensity as a cataractogenous factor. A second comparative group consisted of rabbits not exposed to any external factor. The authors detected a statistically significant decrease of transparency of lenses of the examined group in reference towards the second comparative group, it was however smaller than in the 1-st group.