title: Presbyopia. Emerging from a blur towards an understanding of the molecular basis for this most common eye condition.
abstract: All people will be presbyopic by age 50, and we now understand something of the basis for this condition. It turns out to be a direct consequence of two features; first the design of the transparent lens and the way it must change shape to enable focussing by the human eye, and second the instability of proteins over a very long time period. The incremental changes that take place in the lens to render the central region inflexible by middle age and, as a consequence the person presbyopic, may also promote the subsequent development of cataract. Based on the most recent data, heat-induced denaturation of proteins in the lens appears to be a worthy topic for future investigation. Understanding such processes may allow us to glimpse the origin both of presbyopia and age-related nuclear cataract.
authors.affiliation: Save Sight Institute, University of Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia. rjwt@uow.edu.au
authors.forename: Roger John
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Truscott
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D002386:Cataract / Q000378:metabolism; D004548:Elasticity; D005136:Eye Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011305:Presbyopia / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005136:Eye Proteins