cortodoxone and Cataract

Cataractous lenses produced by hydrocortisone or prednisolone treatment in developing chick embryos turned golden brown on heating at 100 degrees C for 60 min. Analysis of an 80% ethanol fraction from the lenses, which contained the pigment-forming substance(s), demonstrated that the heat-induced pigmentation was related to the appearance of opacity of the lens after glucocorticoid administration and suggested that the pigmentation occurred by the Maillard reaction between glucose and amino acids.

Topics: Animals; Cataract; Chick Embryo; Cortisone; Cortodoxone; Hot Temperature; Hydrocortisone; Lens, Crystalline; Pigmentation; Prednisolone; Time Factors

When 15-day-old developing chick embryos were administered hydrocortisone hemisuccinate sodium (HC; 0.25 mumol/egg), the content of glucose in the lens markedly increased from around 6 hr, and reached about 25-30-fold above the matched control at 24-48 hr. Thereafter, the glucose level declined and returned to the control level by 100 hr. The profile of lenticular glucose levels was similar to that of the appearance and disappearance of lens opacification. Prednisolone, as well as HC, produced cataract and the elevation of glucose in the lenses. Cortexolone and cortisone, which have weak or negligible glucocorticoid activity in developing chick embryo, could neither produce cataract nor the elevation of glucose in the lenses. An attempt was made to find similarity between this glucocorticoid-induced cataract and sugar cataract known in mammals. In both control and HC-induced cataract (stage IV-V) obtained 48 hr after HC administration, sorbitol, fructose, and glycosylation of protein could not be detected. Dehydration was observed in HC-induced cataractous lens. These data demonstrate that the glycosylation of lenticular protein and the accumulation of polyol were not involved in glucocorticoid-induced cataract formation in developing chick embryos. These results suggest a relationship between the elevation of glucose and cataract formation. However, when cataract formation was blocked by ascorbic acid treatment, the glucose level remained high. Therefore, any relationship between glucose level and cataract may be complex or indirect.

Topics: Animals; Cataract; Chick Embryo; Cortisone; Cortodoxone; Glucocorticoids; Glucose; Hydrocortisone; Lens, Crystalline; Prednisolone

The level of lipid peroxide (LPO) in glucocorticoid-induced cataractous lenses was measured by using thiobarbituric acid. When 0.25 mumol of hydrocortisone hemisuccinate sodium (HC) were administered to 15-day-old chick embryos, the level of LPO in the lens increased to approximately 1.4-fold of the control level at 24 to 48 hr after HC treatment. However, the level returned to the control level by 96 hr with the disappearance of opacity in the lens. A triple application of ascorbic acid (20 mumol/egg) at 3, 10 and 20 hr after HC treatment prevented cataract formation and elevation in the level of LPO in 60% of the lenses. In 40% of the eggs treated with HC plus ascorbic acid, the results were no different than HC alone. Treatment with prednisolone hemisuccinate sodium (0.25 mumol/egg) produced an elevation in the level of LPO in the lens but that with cortisone hemisuccinate sodium or cortexolone hemisuccinate sodium did not change the level of LPO in the lens. The phenomena of the cataract formation and the elevation of LPO in the lens caused by HC seemed to be related to each other and due to its glucocorticoid activities.

Topics: Animals; Ascorbic Acid; Cataract; Chick Embryo; Cortisone; Cortodoxone; Glucocorticoids; Hydrocortisone; Lens, Crystalline; Lipid Peroxides; Prednisolone