Age-related changes in water and crystallin content of the fetal and adult human lens, demonstrated by a microsectioning technique.

By means of a microsectioning technique, human fetal and adult lenses were divided into 8-16 fractions. The dry weight (DW), the water content, and the amounts of water-soluble (WS) crystallins and water-insoluble (WI) lens fraction were determined in each layer or fraction. Within the lens, the changes of these parameters are gradual and continuous. The lens nucleus contains the highest amounts of DW and WI fraction, and the lowest amounts of water and WS crystallins. There is a relative dehydration of the lens during development and ageing, most pronounced in the lens nucleus.