Lens cytoskeleton and after-cataract.

Lens epithelial and other ocular cells contain complex arrays of actin filaments which might be expected to allow them to migrate following injury: specifically into the capsular sac in cases of extracapsular cataract extraction or traumatic cataract. To test the possibility, a culture system was developed using a melanotic strain of mice, in which migrating cells are often 'marked' by melanosomes. Injured lenses were cultured on permeable membranes in contact with nutrient medium, and surrounded by iridial tract fragments. After study by light and electron microscopy, it was established that both pigmented and unpigmented cells migrated from the surrounding explants, apparently along the substrate meniscus, to the outside of the lens capsule and then through the wound to the capsule interior. This study suggests a source of cells in development of after-cataract syndrome.