Cataractogenesis Of Transgenic Mice Carrying Chicken Vimentin Genes And Expression Of Vimentin In Lens Epithelium Of Human Age-Related Cataracts

Purposes: Age-related cataract is prevalent in 60% of the elderly population and is a major cause of visual impairment throughout the world. Despite considerable research on the mechanism of cataractogenesis the primary cause of age-related cataract remains elusive. With the development of transgenic technique, it is possible to study on the mechanism of cataractogenesis at the molecular level by the use of transgenic animals. In 1989, Capetanaki and colleagues reported that transgenic mice carrying chicken vimentin gene developed cataract We produced the murinecataract model using microinjection. The objectives of the present study is to observe the changes of cataractous lenses of transgenic mice and the lens epithelial cells of human age-related cataract in aspects of histopathology and expression of vimentin and to investigate the mechanism of cataractogenesis of transgenic mice and human age-related cataract.Methods: The 12.7kb chicken vimentin genes(VXBK) were microinjected into male pronuclei of ICR mice. The injected embryos were generated several transgenic mice. By cross-breeding the cataract transgenic mice strains were established. Using a slit-lamp microscope, we examined the lenses of mice during the development of cataract. The paraffin-embedded tissue sections of four murine cataractous lenese were studied with microscopy. Ultrathin sections of two murine lenses were prepared for transmission electron microscopy. Sections of four cataractous lenses were studied with antiserum to vimentin by the avidin-biotinylated peroxidase complex(ABC) method. Vimentin in two cataractous lenses in different severity was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blotting.