Acta Ophthalmologica 1965. [antikvár]

AGING. ANOMALIES AND RADIATION EFFECT OF THE RABBIT LENS") BY Walter J. Geeraets, Wade Harrel, DuPont Guerry III*, William T. Ham, Jr., Harold A. Mueller INTRODUCTION A causal relationship between the effects of aging on biological structures and that of ionizing radiation has been suggested by various investigators (1-4). If this suggestion is valid, one might expect to find: a) that tissue subjected to doses of ionizing radiation would develop prematurely certain changes which one customarily recognized as aging effects; b) that these "aging effects" might be present to a more pronounced degree than is usually apparant; and c) that a continuum might be detectable between the changes which are ascribed to aging and those which are known to follow ionizing radiation. The mammalian lens represents an ideál "médium" for providing points of comparison between the two "insults" - i.e. age and radiation effect. The lens is easily studied in vivo by means of biomicroscopy. It naturally develops changes with age, and characteristic changes take place after exposure to ionizing radiation. In order that lens variations and anomalies which may occur can be distinguished from changes due to aging and radiation, such observations are described first. The present study is therefore divided into two sections. 1) Normál lens, variations and anomalies 2) Aging and lens irradiation effects The reported findings were obtained by slitlamp examinations (X 16). Detailed drawings of each lens were made showing changes in an anterior-posterior *) Received May 26th 1964.