CELLS-ALBA, Carrer de la Llum 2-26, Cerdanyola del Valles, 08290, Barcelona, Spain.
Eye Hospital, University Medical Centre, Grablovičeva 46, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 23;10(1):15489. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72413-9.
Cataract is the leading cause of blindness worldwide but the mechanisms involved in the process of cataractogenesis are not yet fully understood. Two most prevalent types of age-related cataracts are nuclear (N) and cortical (C) cataracts. A common environmental factor in most age-related cataracts is believed to be oxidative stress. The lens epithelium, the first physical and biological barrier in the lens, is build from lens epithelial cells (LECs). LECs are important for the maintenance of lens transparency as they control energy production, antioxidative mechanisms and biochemical transport for the whole lens. The purpose of this study is to characterize compounds in LECs originated from N and C cataracts, by using the synchrotron radiation-based Fourier Transform Infrared (SR-FTIR) microspectroscopy, in order to understand the functional importance of their different bio-macromolecules in cataractogenesis. We used the SR-FTIR microspectroscopy setup installed on the beamline MIRAS at the Spanish synchrotron light source ALBA, where measurements were set to achieve single cell resolution, with high spectral stability and high photon flux. The results showed that protein aggregation in form of fibrils was notably pronounced in LECs of N cataracts, while oxidative stress and the lipids peroxidation were more pronounced in LECs of C cataracts.
白内障是全球致盲的主要原因，但白内障形成过程中涉及的机制尚未完全了解。两种最常见的与年龄相关的白内障是核性（N）和皮质性（C）白内障。大多数与年龄相关的白内障的一个共同环境因素被认为是氧化应激。晶状体上皮细胞（LEC）构成了晶状体的第一道物理和生物学屏障。LEC 对于保持晶状体透明度非常重要，因为它们控制着整个晶状体的能量产生、抗氧化机制和生化运输。本研究的目的是使用基于同步辐射的傅里叶变换红外（SR-FTIR）微光谱学来表征来自 N 和 C 白内障的 LEC 中的化合物，以了解其不同生物大分子在白内障形成过程中的功能重要性。我们使用了安装在西班牙同步辐射光源 ALBA 的 MIRAS 光束线上的 SR-FTIR 微光谱学装置，该装置的测量设置实现了单细胞分辨率，具有高光谱稳定性和高光子通量。结果表明，N 白内障的 LEC 中明显存在纤维状的蛋白质聚集，而 C 白内障的 LEC 中氧化应激和脂质过氧化更为明显。
