DEVELOPMENT OF GALACTOSE CATARACT IN THE ALBINO RAT EMBRYO

Abstract

In 1935 Mitchell¹ first reported the type of cataract in rats which results from a diet containing a high level of galactose. Subsequent investigation² brought out the fact that galactose cataract occurred more readily in younger than in older animals, and consequently it became of interest to determine the effect of galactose on the developing lens of the rat embryo. A series of investigations, begun in 1937, have definitely established the fact that when pregnant female rats are fed a diet containing 25 per cent galactose cataractous changes appear in the lenses of the embryos.³ Because of variations in the degree of susceptibility of different strains of rats,⁴ the investigation included animals from the original Battle Creek stock, known to be highly susceptible, and from a closely inbred strain which had been used in the Wellesley College laboratory for several years. Preliminary experiments with a lactose