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Manuel B. Datiles III, MD; Rafat R. Ansari, PhD; Kwang I. Suh, PhD; Susan Vitale, PhD, MHS; George F. Reed, PhD; J. Samuel Zigler Jr, PhD; Frederick L. Ferris III, MD

Arch Ophthalmol. 2008;126(12):1687-1693.

Objective  To use dynamic light scattering to clinically assess early precataractous lens protein changes.

Methods  We performed a cross-sectional study in 380 eyes of 235 patients aged 7 to 86 years with Age-Related Eye Disease Study clinical nuclear lens opacity grades 0 to 3.8. A dynamic light-scattering device was used to assess -crystallin, a molecular chaperone protein shown to bind other damaged lens proteins, preventing their aggregation. The outcome measure was the -crystallin index, a measure of unbound -crystallin in each lens. The association of the -crystallin index with increasing nuclear opacity and aging was determined.

Results  There was a significant decrease in the -crystallin index associated with increasing nuclear lens opacity grades (P < .001). There were significant losses of -crystallin even in clinically clear lenses associated with aging (P < .001). The standard error of measurement was 3%.

Conclusions  Dynamic light scattering clinically detects -crystallin protein loss even in clinically clear lenses. -Crystallin index measurements may be useful in identifying patients at high risk for cataracts and as an outcome variable in clinical lens studies.

Clinical Relevance  The -crystallin index may be a useful measure of the protective -crystallin molecular chaperone reserve present in a lens, analogous to creatinine clearance in estimating renal function reserve.

Author Affiliations: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (Drs Datiles, Vitale, Reed, Zigler, and Ferris); National Aeronautics and Space Administration John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, Cleveland, Ohio (Dr Ansari); and Ohio Aerospace Institute, Cleveland (Dr Suh).

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