COLD CATARACT FORMATION IN FISH LENSES

Cold cataract formation in fish lenses occurs at temperatures, 10 to 40°C below that for mammals. It is partially an irreversible cataract: while the cortex and nucleus become transparent upon warming, a spherical layer at the interface between these two regions remains turbid. On the basis of light scattering and isoelectric focusing data, it is concluded that cold cataract formation in fish lenses is not due to any specific lens protein alone but to the specific supermolecular organization of lens protein in the different parts of the lens. © 1979.