Abstract
Presentation Description :
The ability for the lens to focus light onto the retina is critically dependent on its unique structure and function. The maintanence of lens structure and function is in turn supported by an underlying cellular biochemistry that supplies sufficient energy and reducing equivalents to protect lens proteins against the accumulated effects of oxidative damage. This biochemistry, due to the loss of cellular organelles in deeper lying fiber cells, is different in the different regions of the lens. Furthermore the cellular biochemistry of the lens is influenced by the transport processes that take up nutrients from the surrounding media, and which direct the delivery of nutrients to the different regions of the lens where they are differentially metabolised. This presentation will attempt to integrate the mapping of metabolic pathways in the lens, with the physiological transport pathways that deliver metabolites to the different regions of the lens, with the view to better understand how dysfunction of these pathways generate the specific cataract phenotypes observed in different regions of the lens.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.