Influence of undernutrition on the lenticular epithelium in neonatal and weanling albino rats.
Protein malnutrition, a morbid nutritional disorder of the developing countries, is known to interfere with cell replication. The influence of undernutrition on the lens which represents a unique combination of static, conditional renewal and constant cell renewal systems is not completely understood. In the present investigation it has been shown that undernutrition results in poor synthetic and proliferative activities of lenticular epithelium in neonatal and post-weaning rats. It is supposed that protein deficiency per se may not produce clinical diseases, but may increase the susceptibility of lenses to exogenous and/or endogenous insults.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology; D007903:Lens Capsule, Crystalline / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000473:pathology; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000254:growth & development*; D008938:Mitosis; D011488:Protein Deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains