Bellows J G, Bellows D A
Ann Ophthalmol. 1975 Feb;7(2):157-60.
Earlier theories of cataract formation have been unsatisfactory and incomplete because they usually assigned a single causative factor to the lenticular changes of cataract. The older theories tended to restrict themselves to consideration of the lens itself, and so were necessarily limited in their premises. The recent rise of interdisciplinary study in medicine has demonstrated the need for a more fundamental and yet broader search for explanations to the disease process. Aging itself is a case in point, and it gives ophthalmologists the framework for an integrated and comprehensive theory of cataract formation, presented here. This new theory considers the alterations in the lens in terms of molecular-level actions that are known to be a part of the aging process-mutation, cross-linkage, and free radical reaction. The further study of these factors, already better understood in other disciplines such as biochemistry and genetics, may lead ophthalmologists to a more precise theory of cataract formation.
早期关于白内障形成的理论并不令人满意且不完整，因为它们通常将白内障晶状体变化的单一致病因素归因于此。早期理论往往局限于对晶状体本身的考量，因此其前提必然有限。医学跨学科研究的近期兴起表明，需要对疾病过程进行更基础且更广泛的解释探索。衰老本身就是一个恰当的例子，它为眼科医生提供了一个关于白内障形成的综合全面理论框架，在此呈现。这一新理论从分子水平的作用来考虑晶状体的改变，这些作用已知是衰老过程的一部分——突变、交联和自由基反应。对这些在生物化学和遗传学等其他学科中已得到更好理解的因素的进一步研究，可能会引导眼科医生得出更精确的白内障形成理论。
