Damages induced to the eye lens crystallins after treatment with beta radiations from Sr90

In this work, one of the two eyes of New Zealand rabbits from both sex were irradiated with β-particles from Sr90 source to 10, 20, 40 and 60 Gy. Also, the effect of β-particles on the lens after 3 months of exposure to 20 and 60 Gy was studied. The changes in the molecular structure of the crystallin lens for the treated and the untreated eyes were measured through the use of gel permeation chromatography. The electrophoretic mobility was also studied. The results indicated that both treated and untreated lenses were suffered pronounced injuries in protein structure. No recovery occurred after 3 months of exposure to 20 and 60 Gy. (author). 9 refs, 12 figs, 1 tab