[Immunochemical markers of embryonic lens differentiation in Rana temporaria. I. Composition and properties of water-soluble lens antigens].

Antisera were obtained to the total extract and individual electrophoretic fractions of lens proteins: alpha-, beta-, gamma1- and gamma2-crystallins. The crystallins under study are immunochemically heterogenous: each class of lens proteins contains 2--4 antigens. Using the indirect method of fluorescent antibodies, it was established that the appearance of crystallins during development coincided with the onset of formation of the presumptive lens fibers. No crystallins were found in the lens placode and early lens vesicle. gamma-Crystallins appear later than the other lens proteins and are characteristic, mainly, for the lens fibers; at the advanced stages of organogenesis gamma-crystallins are regularly found in the epithelial cells of the developing lens as well.