Ultrastructure of human cataract in retinitis pigmentosa
J. Eshaghian, N. S. Rafferty and W. Goossens
A second ultrastructural study of retinitis pigmentosa cataract showed
differences from the previous case with respect to sex, age of cataract
onset, age at time of cataract extraction, and mode of inheritance of
retinitis pigmentosa. Furthermore, the cataract in the present study was
limited clinically and preponderantly ultrastructurally to the posterior
subcapsular area, which is typical of the location of cataracts associated
with retinitis pigmentosa. The cataract was characterized by severe lens
fiber disorganization, resulting in intricately distorted membrane
configurations and varying cytoplasmic densities; however, "figure eight"
configurations as noted in the other report were not observed. Aberrantly
migrated epithelial cells were distributed unevenly in the posterior
subcapsular zone. New capsular basement membrane, not mentioned in the
other report, was conspicuous in our case. Thus, retinitis pigmentosa
cataract may have diverse ultrastructural alterations.
