Clinical, Histological and Biochemical Observations in Spontaneous Senile Cataract in Mastomys Species

Abstract

Clinical, histological and biochemical examination of spontaneous lens opacity was carried out in Mastomys  coucha species. The incidence of the spontaneous lens opacity was noticed in adult animals, in the  age range of 48-72 weeks, up to a maximum prevalence of 2.6% and 13.71% in male and female animals  respectively. The affected animals exhibited mild lens opacity initially, which progressed with age, and later  on became dense and looked like a mature cataract. The opacity was irreversible and showed no signs of  disappearing in the affected animals. Both male and female were affected but, as noted above, the incidence  of the abnormality was higher in the females. The mode of inheritance was not investigated. The ophthalmoscopic  examination of the affected animals revealed total lenticular opacity characterized by a shallow  anterior chamber and bulging of the lens towards the anterior side due to the swelling of the lens. The serum  glucose values in affected animals were within the normal range. The histological examination of opaque  lenses revealed total alteration in the micro architecture of the lens cells. The SDS-PAGE analysis of lens  crystallins, revealed distribution of major lens crystallins within range of 20-30 kDa molecular weights.  The immunoblotting of SDS-PAGE separated proteins with anti-crystallin , ß and  antibodies indicated  expression of major lens crystallins in affected animals. We have concluded that this is a case of spontaneous  senile cataract, reported for the first time in Mastomys species.