[Ciliary body changes associate with aldose reductase in galactosemic rats].

Morphological changes of the ciliary body epithelium in rats fed a 50% galactose diet for 10 months with or without aldose reductase inhibitor (ARI) were investigated by both light microscopic observation and measurement of cell size. Aldose reductase was immunohistochemically observed to be present in non-pigmented epithelial cells of ciliary body and structural change (hypertrophy) was observed only in non-pigmented epithelial cells of galactosemic rats. In contrast, no hypertrophic changes were seen in rats fed with ARI. These results strongly suggest that aldose reductase is associated with hypertrophic change of non-pigmented epithelial cells of the ciliary body.