An experimental and clinical evaluation of lens transparency and aging

The normal human lens is a precisely formed structure containing about 65% water and 35% organic matter, the latter being mainly (greater than 90%) structural proteins. The lens becomes encapsulated at the 13 mm embryonic stage and is consequently divorced from a direct blood supply for life. It provides the investigator with an organ that exists in an environment analogous to a single-cell type of tissue culture system and can be reproduced in vitro. Since the cornea and lens are transparent one can directly monitor morphologic and biochemical aging changes in vivo. Recent developments now permit us to monitor certain molecular changes as well. Thus this organ can serve as a unique model for studying in vivo aging parameters. In vivo UV slit lamp densitography to monitor lens fluorescence provides us with a useful diagnostic and prognostic screening method to identify lens photodamage due to excess UV exposure (occupational or accidental), photosensitizers (e.g. psoralens) as well as the normal age related increase in lenticular fluorescence. Cortical opacities are also a common finding in older individuals. In vitro NMR (human and animal lenses) and in vivo (animal experiments) currently in progress are rapidly elucidating the physicochemical basis for the development of light scattering areas in the aging lens cortex. This review demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing biophysical methods, in particular, optical spectroscopy and NMR analyses to delineate and monitor specific age related parameters in the ocular lens, in vivo as well as in vitro.