Age-related changes of lens stiffness in wild-type and Cx46 knockout mice

Exp Eye Res. 2021 Sep 29;212:108777. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2021.108777. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTWe have investigated how connexin 46 (Cx46) regulates lens stiffness by studying different Cx46 knockout (Cx46KO) mice. A modified muscle lever system was used to determine the lens stiffness of wild-type (WT) and Cx46KO mice at the C57BL/6J (B6) and the 129SvJae (129) strain backgrounds according to total lens displacement at the point of maximum force when fresh lenses were compressed with a maximum of 2 mN of force. In comparison to B6-WT controls, young and old B6-Cx46KO lenses showed 23% and 28% reductions in lens displacement, respectively. Comparing to 129-WT controls, old 129-Cx46KO lenses showed 50% reduction in the lens displacement while young 129-Cx46KO lenses displayed similar displacement. Old B6-Cx46KO and old 129-Cx46KO lenses showed almost identical lens displacement, 128 μm versus 127 μm. Morphological data revealed unique changes of peripheral fiber cell shapes in young B6-WT lenses but not in young B6-Cx46KO, 129-WT and 129-Cx46KO lenses. This work reveals Cx46 deletion increases the lens stiffness in both young and old mice at B6 strain background but only in old mice at 129 strain background which contains intermediate filament CP49 gene deletion. Cx46 impairment increases old mouse lens stiffness and may contribute to the development of presbyopia.PMID:34597677 | DOI:10.1016/j.exer.2021.108777

Source: Experimental Eye Research - October 1, 2021 Category: Opthalmology Authors: Wiktor Stopka Tom Libby Stephanie Lin Eddie Wang Chun-Hong Xia Xiaohua Gong Source Type: research