The Journal of Experimental Medicine
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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/1997/1/273/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 185, Number 2, January 20, 1997 273-280

Articles

Estrogen Protects Lenses against Cataract Induced by Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGFβ)

Angela M. Hales, Coral G. Chamberlain, Christopher R. Murphy, and John W. McAvoy

From the Department of Anatomy and Histology, and Institute for Biomedical Research (F13), The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2006

Cataract, already a major cause of visual impairment and blindness, is likely to become an increasing problem as the world population ages. In a previous study, we showed that transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) induces rat lenses in culture to develop opacities and other changes that have many features of human subcapsular cataracts. Here we show that estrogen protects against cataract. Lenses from female rats are more resistant to TGFβ-induced cataract than those from males. Furthermore, lenses from ovariectomized females show increased sensitivity to the damaging effects of TGFβ and estrogen replacement in vivo, or exposure to estrogen in vitro, restores resistance. Sex-dependent and estrogen-related differences in susceptibility to cataract formation, consistent with a protective role for estrogen, have been noted in some epidemiological studies. The present study in the rat indicates that estrogen provides protection against cataract by countering the damaging effects of TGFβ. It also adds to an increasing body of evidence that hormone replacement therapy protects postmenopausal women against various diseases.

Address correspondence to Dr. J.W. McAvoy, Department of Anatomy and Histology (F13), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia 2006.

The authors wish to thank Dr. Tim Shaw and Ms. Maria Bucci for performing the ovariectomies and administering replacement hormones, and Dr. Rebecca Mason for providing phenol red-free medium and estradiol. We also wish to thank Roland Smith for his assistance with the photography.

This work was supported by grants from the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia, the National Eye Institute, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, USA (R01 EYO3177), and a University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Scholarship to A.M. Hales.


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