[Immunochemical markers of embryonic lens differentiation in Rana temporaria. II. Immunohistochemical analysis of the manifestation and localization of individual classes of lens proteins].

Individual lens proteins were studied during development of Rana temporaria. Antisera to alpha-, beta-crystallins of chicks and gamma-crystallins of Rana ridibunda were used as immunochemical markers. Besides the main crystallins, a new antigen was found in the R. temporaria lens tentatively called alphabeta-crystallin. It appears to be characteristic only for the amphibian lens. Using the indirect method of fluorescent antibodies, it was shown that all the antigens under study appeared in the lens of the R. temporaria tadpoles within 1--2 days (at 20 degrees). The crystallins are found initially only in the developing lens fibers and later in the lens epithelium. It was established that the lens epithelium contained gamma-crystallins which appeared somewhat earlier than alpha- and beta-crystallins, but simultaneously with alphabeta-crystallin.