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  • The energy required to drive the functional process to activ

    2022-05-19

    The energy required to drive the functional process to actively maintain lens transparency is primarily derived from the metabolism of glucose. Since the lens is avascular and exists in an environment of low oxygen tension, glucose is primarily metabolized by L-Homopropargyl Glycine receptor glycolysis (Kinoshita, 1965). This occurs even in the lens epithelium which contains mitochondria since the energy gained from glycolysis exceeds that derived from the Krebs cycle and its associated oxidative phosphorylation mechanisms (Kinoshita, 1965). The mechanisms by which the lens takes up glucose from the aqueous humor have been extensively studied and our understanding of these processes has evolved over time. Initially it was proposed that glucose was taken up solely by the epithelial cells that cover the anterior surface of the lens, then moved by passive diffusion towards the center of the lens via a pathway mediated by gap junctions (Goodenough et al., 1980). However, passive diffusion alone is unlikely to be sufficient for nutrient transport to fiber cells located in the lens core (DiMattio, 1984), and it has been proposed that delivery of glucose to deeper fiber cells occurs via an extracellular route which is facilitated by an internal active micro-circulation system (Donaldson et al., 2001, Donaldson et al., 2010, Mathias et al., 2007). Implicit in this model is the prediction that the fiber cells express transporters to mediate glucose uptake from the extracellular space. In support of this, a number of studies have shown that glucose uptake in the lens still occurs when the capsule and the adhering epithelial cell layer are removed (Giles and Harris, 1959, Harris et al., 1955, Kern et al., 1977). However, a number of additional functional studies (Elbrink and Bihler, 1972, Lucas and Duncan, 1983, Lucas and Zigler, 1987, Lucas and Zigler, 1988), conducted in a variety of species, have been unable to definitively resolve whether glucose uptake in fiber cells is mediated by members of the facilitative glucose transporter (GLUT) family, the sodium-dependent glucose transporter (SGLT) family, or both. In previous work, we utilized a molecular screening approach to determine which members of the GLUT family were expressed in the neonate rat lens (p5) (Merriman-Smith et al., 1999). Immunolocalization of GLUT1 and GLUT3 protein in the rat lens revealed GLUT1 protein to be strongly expressed in the epithelium, and to a minor extent in the differentiating fiber cells, while GLUT3 protein was absent in the epithelium, but strongly expressed in cortical fiber cells of neonate rat lenses (Merriman-Smith et al., 1999). In a latter study using weaner rat lenses (p28), the fiber cell localization of GLUT3 was more closely examined and revealed that in young differentiating fiber cells, GLUT3 was mainly found in the cytoplasm, but with increasing depth into the lens became inserted into the narrow sides of older fiber cells, before becoming completely dispersed around the entire membrane in the lens core (Merriman-Smith et al., 2003). Hyperglycemia induced either in vivo by injecting rats with steptozotocin, or in vitro by culturing rat lenses in 50 mM glucose, revealed that GLUT3 mRNA, but not GLUT1 mRNA was up-regulated (Merriman-Smith et al., 2003). This increase in GLUT3 expression was confirmed at the protein level, and in hyperglycemic lenses GLUT3 antibody labelling was localized to a region of tissue liquefaction suggesting that GLUT3 is the transporter responsible for the increased glucose uptake that occurs in the diabetic rat lens (Merriman-Smith et al., 2003).
    Materials and methods
    Results
    Discussion In previous work, a molecular screening approach was used to determine which members of the GLUT family were expressed in the rat lens (Merriman-Smith et al., 1999). Immunolocalization of GLUT1 and GLUT3 protein in the rat lens using N-terminal directed antibodies, revealed GLUT1 protein to be strongly expressed in the epithelium, and to a minor extent in the differentiating fiber cells, while GLUT3 protein was absent in the epithelium, but expressed in the fiber cells (Merriman-Smith et al., 1999). Furthermore, it was shown that hyperglycemia resulted in the upregulation of GLUT3 protein expression indicating GLUT3 to be the transporter isoform responsible for the increased glucose uptake that occurs in the diabetic rat lens (Merriman-Smith et al., 2003).