FIGURE 8.

α-Crystallin peptides inhibit oxidative stress in selenite-induced cataracts. The lenses were harvested from animals on day 6-post sodium selenite injection and processed as described under “Experimental Procedures.” α-Crystallin peptides (both acetyl and native peptides) administered through multiple injections of 10 μg/animal (as in Fig. 5) inhibited the loss of GSH (panel A) and SOD1 activity in selenite-treated rat lenses (panel B). The bars represent the mean ± S.D. of three independent experiments. αA, αA-native peptide; αA(a), αA-acetyl peptide; αB, αB-native peptide; and αB(a), αB-acetyl peptide. The differences between native and acetyl peptides were not statistically significant. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.005; ***, p < 0.0005. NS, not significant.