Fig. 1

Lens epithelial cells apoptosis was associated with the age-related cataract base on human samples. a Representative slit-lamp image of the lens with cortical opacity of cataract. From the representative patient, the slit lamp biomicroscopy examination showed the cortical cataract with age. Because the normal subjects with transparent lens were enrolled from corneal transplant donors and ocular trauma patients with lens detachment, a picture of normal control cannot be obtained. b Decreases in LECs density from the cataract patients compared to the control individuals using HE staining of whole lenses. The patient lens epithelial cells showed cell nuclei shrinkage, chromatin condensation, and fragmented nuclei by nuclei stained with hematoxylin. Scale bar: 20 µm. c The cell density was determined by counting nuclei stained with the hematoxylin in 5 randomly selected fields from three experiments and are shown as means ± SD. **p < 0.01 versus the LECs from control individuals. d Apoptotic LECs increased in ARC patients. The red arrows point to the apoptotic cells with both positive TUNEL and Hoechst 33342 staining. The yellow arrows point to the non-apoptotic cells with TUNEL-negative staining. Scale bar: 100 µm. e The apoptotic cell numbers were determined by TUNEL assay. Counting both positive TUNEL and Hoechst 33342 cells in 5 randomly selected fields from three experiments and are shown as means ± SD. **p < 0.01 versus the LECs from control individuals