For the first time, researchers have found an association between the loss of gel in the eye’s vitreous body--the gel that lies between the back of the lens and the retina--and the formation of nuclear cataracts, the most common type of age-related cataracts. Although there is a widespread perception that cataracts are inevitable, researchers now believe they may be preventable if they can continue to identify the cause.
Researchers studied several experiments that showed the lens is normally in an oxygen deprived environment, and several studies the researchers looked over showed that patients treated for long periods with high levels of oxygen tend to develop nuclear cataracts. These findings suggest that oxygen may be toxic to the lens.
To study this further, researchers studied 171 human eyes from an eye bank, looking for cataracts and measuring the amount of liquid compared to the gel in the vitreous body.
Researchers found that nuclear cataracts were strongly related to vitreous liquefaction (breakdown of the vitreous body), independent of age. Researchers suggest that when the vitreous gel begins to break down from the retina and liquefies, it allows fluid to flow over the surface of the oxygen-rich retina, resulting in the oxygen being carried away in the fluid and delivered to lens, which may cause nuclear cataracts.
Currently there is no way to measure a person’s risk for developing cataracts, but researchers are working with advanced ultrasound techniques that may provide a way in the future.
Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science January, 2004;45(1):77-85
