Blood and Lens Glutathione and Catalase Activity in Patients with Age-Related Cataract

Abstract

Cataract is a complete or partial opacity that develops in the crystalline lens of the eye . There is an accumulation of evidences suggesting that oxidative damage might be one of the primary biochemical events leading to cataract development. This study was conducted at the Department of Biochemistry ,College of Medicine , Kufa University from December /2006 to July /2007.One hunderd and ten cataractous lenses were collected from patients aged 50-85 years (males 52 and females 58) who underwent extracapsular cataract extraction at Al-sadder Teaching Hospital in Najaf. Blood samples were obtained from 60 patients (males 25 and females 35). Lens and blood samples were subjected to chemical analysis to estimate levels of catalase activity and glutathione as a biomarker of oxidative stress in cataractogenesis process. Comparison was made between mature and immature cataract and it was found that the catalase activity and levels of glutathione were significantly decreased (P<0.01) in lens and serum of patients with mature cataract and smokers when compared with immature cataract and non smokers respectively.