Cataract Development in Animals with Delayed Supplementation of Tryptophane

Abstract

Infantile rats were fed for 12 hrs. with tryptophane free-diet, and in subsequent 12 hrs. the diet contained no other amino acids but the missing tryptophane. As a result of this feeding, the animals did not grow; in 10 of the 12 animals, corneal vascularization and cataract formation were observed in spite of sufficient tryptophane consumption. These results suggest a causal relationship between disturbed protein synthesis and cataract formation. The cataract in these expts. is not a lesion due specifically to tryptophane deficiency, but is caused by inability of the animal body to synthesize protein in case not all essential building stones are simultaneously available.