Pentosidine and autofluorescence in lenses of diabetic patients.

Pentosidine, an advanced glycation endproduct, may cause the increased fluorescence found in the lenses of diabetic patients. We measured the autofluorescence in human lenses, in vitro, and quantified the pentosidine to examine its relationship to the autofluorescence. Lens autofluorescence was higher in diabetic than non-diabetic subjects; pentosidine quantities were significantly higher in the diabetic than the non-diabetic group indicating that pentosidine was involved in the greater intensity of autofluorescence in the lenses of patients with diabetes mellitus.