Development of fluorescence and cross-links in eye lens crystallin by interaction with lipid peroxy radicals

Senile nuclear cataract formation is associated with the accumulation of fluorescent insoluble proteins. alpha-Crystallin from bovine eye lens was treated with the lipid peroxy radicals generated by interaction of linoleic acid 13-monohydroperoxide or phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide with methemoglobin. A blue non-tryptophan fluorescence composed of at least two kinds of fluorophores, stable and unstable on borohydride treatment, was produced. One of the stable fluorophores was identified as dityrosine by comparison of its retention times in amino acid analysis and HPLC with those of authentic dityrosine. Dityrosine was formed by the radical reaction, and less than 0.3% of the total tyrosine residues of the protein were transformed into dityrosine. The unstable fluorophores may be produced on the amino groups of alpha-crystallin by the non-radical reaction of the decomposition products of the radicals including monofunctional aldehyde species. Extensive intermolecular cross-links could not be explained only by the dityrosine content, but by the other modifications. Formation of fluorescence and intermolecular cross-links in alpha-crystalline in reaction with the lipid peroxy radicals suggested the participation of lipid peroxidation in the cataractous process.