Influence of nickel sulphate on lens in SD rat / 中华实验眼科杂志

ABSTRACT

Background Researches showed that the incidence rate of cataract is high in the nickel mining area. Nickel sulphate can apparently inhibit the metabolism and proliferation of human lens epithelium cells. But the study on the injury mechanism of nickel on lens is still seldom. Objective Present study was to investigate the effect of nickel sulphate on the lens of SD rats. Methods Forty-five SPF SD rats aged from 7 to 14 days were grouped randomly into subcutaneous injection group, intraperitoneal injection group and blank group. Nickel sulphate of 2 g/L ( 10 mg/kg) was subcutaneously or intraperitonealy injected for 45 days. The opacity of rat lens was examined under the slit lamp at two-week interval and scored based on the criteria of LOCS II and LOCS III. The rats were sacrificed in 45 days after experiment and the lens were obtained for the pathological examination. Result The mean score of the anterior subcapsule opacity of rat lens was obviously higher in subcutaneous injection group compared with blank control group with a significant difference between them (t= 14. 311, P < 0. 05 ) , but no significant difference in the anterior subcapsule opacity between intraperitoneal injection group and blank control group (t = 4. 355 , P>0. 05 ). The score of posterior subcapsule opacity of lens were evidently higher in both subcutaneous injection group and intraperitoneal injection group than the blank control group (t = 9. 316,P = 0. 004;t = 7. 464, P = 0. 009) ,so was the mean score of the anterior +posterior subcapsule opacities(t = 23. 387,P=0. 000;t= 10. 533,P = 0. 002) and the total score of rat lens opacity ( t = 12. 358 , P = 0. 001; t = 10. 188 , P = 0. 003 ) . No significant differences were found in cortex opacity score and nuclear opacity score among three groups ( P > 0.05 ). Histopathology examination revealed that the degeneration of lens collagen protein was more serious in subcutaneous injection group and intraperitoneal injection group than the blank control group,and the injury degree of lens collagen protein was more dominant in subcutaneous injection group. Conclusion System administration of nickel sulphate induced the injury of anterior and posterior subcapsule of lens in SD rat.