Abstract:
Non-enzymic glycation of long-lived proteins has been implicated in several age related and diabetes related complications,
including cataract. Dicarbonyl compounds such as methylglyoxal and glyoxal have been identified as the predominant
source for the formation of advanced glycation end products in various tissues including the lens. Objective: Comparative
assessment of the colour of nuclei and quantity of reactive Dicarbonyls present in removed senile cataractous lens nuclei in
diabetic and non-diabetic senile cataract cases undergoing routine cataract surgery. Methods: 30 cases were recruited in this
study. The preoperative assessment of types and grading of cataract were done after the cases admitted. All the cases were
operated by one surgeon (SS) at Great River Eye Hospital Benghazi. The nucleus of the cataractous lens (core part of the
human lens) from operated cases first examined for colour and then transferred in dry state to the laboratory for biochemical
assay of reactive dicarbonyls. Results: Average concentration of detected reactive dicarbonyls in non diabetics was
2.5148x10 ± 1.2 w/w in comparison to 4.566x10 ± 1.5 w/w in diabetics (p<0.005) in our study. The average concentration
of detected dicarbonyls in nondiabetic females is 2.55X10 ±1.2w/w.in comparison to2.45X10 ±1.2w/w in males, while the
detected concentrations in diabetic females are 4.58X10 ±1.4 in comparison to 4.46X10 ±1.9w/w in males. Conclusion:
We observed more browning of the removed cataract nuclei in cases that had diabetes in comparison to cases without
diabetes. There has been significant high level of reactive dicarbonyls detected in removed nuclei from diabetic individuals
than from non-diabetics.
