A new mixed disulfide species in human cataractous and aged lenses.

The process of ageing in the normal human eye lens is unique among tissues due to the absence of turnover in the structural proteins. These proteins accumulate a variety of modifications throughout their lifetime. Significantly, the cysteine residues are subject to disulfide formation with the low molecular weight thiol compounds present in the lens. It has been shown that accumulation of glutathione and cysteine mixed disulfides in the proteins of normal human lens is a function of age. In this report a third mixed disulfide species gamma-glutamylcysteine (gamma-Glu-Cys), has been identified by comparison with standards which were produced through two distinct methods. This new mixed disulfide is only prominent in old lenses (> 60 years) and cataractous lenses. In these situations its level may approach those of cysteine mixed disulfide. The appearance of gamma-Glu-Cys may be coincident with biochemical abnormalities preceding cataract formation. This protein modification may be a result of changes in the GSH biosynthetic pathway within the lens.