Histological changes of rat lenses after UV-irradiation and D-penicillamine treatment

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of local treatment of rat eyes with D-penicillamine (PE) or D-penicillamine disulfide eye drops and their influence on the development of UV-induced lens opacities. 126 Brown Norway rats were divided into 14 groups to test the efficacy of different concentrations of the drugs. During the investigation period, slitlamp examinations and Scheimpflug measurements were performed. The post-mortem analysis comprised biochemical and histological investigations. This paper deals with the histological part of the study. A generally beneficial effect of the substances in question could not be found by means of histological methods. The best effect in relative terms was obtained by the use of 3.0% PE after a pretreatment of 7 days before starting UV irradiation. This result is in agreement with the evaluation of the Scheimpflug photography by microdensitometric image analysis.