PURPOSE It is well established that levels of soluble α-crystallin in the lens cytoplasm fall steadily with age, accompanied by a corresponding increase in the amount of membrane-bound α-crystallin. Less well understood, is the mechanism driving this age-dependent membrane association. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the membrane and its associated proteins and peptides in ...

Biochemical evidence is presented for the disintegration of the lens fiber plasma membrane in human cataracts. The intrinsic membrane proteins are found in both the water-soluble and water-insoluble nonmembrane fractions of the cataract lens but not in the normal tissue. Furthermore, in contrast to the normal lens, not all of the lipid found in the cataractous lens is isolated with the membrane...

Various Monte Carlo techniques are used to determine the complete phase diagrams of the square-well model for the attractive ranges lambda = 1.15 and lambda = 1.25. The results for the latter case are in agreement with earlier Monte Carlo simulations for the fluid-fluid coexistence curve and yield new results for the liquidus-solidus lines. Our results for lambda = 1.15 are new. We find that th...

PURPOSE The aim of the study was to comparatively analyze crystallin fragments in the water soluble high molecular weight (WS-HMW) and in the water insoluble (WI) protein fractions of human cataractous (with nuclear opacity) and age matched normal lenses to determine the identity of crystallin species that show cataract specific changes such as truncation and post-translational modifications. B...

BACKGROUND Small heat shock proteins regulate microtubule assembly during cell proliferation and in response to stress through interactions that are poorly understood. METHODOLOGY Novel functions for five interactive sequences in the small heat shock protein and molecular chaperone, human alphaB crystallin, were investigated in the assembly/disassembly of microtubules and aggregation of tubul...

In addition to its well-characterized role in the lens, αB-crystallin performs other functions. Methylglyoxal (MGO) can alter the function of the basement membrane of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Thus, if MGO is not efficiently detoxified, it can induce adverse reactions in RPE cells. In this study, we examined the mechanisms underlying the anti-apoptotic activity of αB-crystallin in...

PURPOSE The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) is an important protein quality control mechanism for selective degradation of abnormal proteins. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that enhancement of the UPP capacity could attenuate the accumulation and aggregation of misfolded proteins using V76D-γD-crystallin as a model substrate. METHODS Wild type (wt) and V76D mutant γ...

AIM To examine the expression of αB-crystallin and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in conjunctival squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS Seven CSCCs and three normal conjunctivas that were surgically excised were studied. Paraformaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections were processed for immunohistochemistry with antibodies against αB-crystallin, its phosph...