2002 Volume 21 Issue 1-2 Pages 43-47
Cystic opacity of the lens was found in 11 out of 88 stroke prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) at 11 weeks of age. Ophthalmoscopically, a semitransparent, oval or irregular-shaped cyst with or without opaque foci was observed in the posterior or posterior-equatorial portion of the lens. The eyeballs with the cystic lens opacity in all cases were affected with persistent hyaloid artery. In addition, vitreous hemorrhage was detected in 4 affected eyeballs. Histopathological observations confirmed that the cystic lens lesions developed in the posterior or posterior-equatorial subcapsular portion of the lens. The cysts contained eosinophilic serous fluid and the lens fibers in the surface region of the cysts were degenerative. The residual segments of the hyaloid arteries were degenerative or necrotic and were adherent to the cystic lens lesions. Cellular infiltration and hemorrhage were observed in the affected vitreous. These results disclosed that the cystic lesion of the lens was closely associated with degenerative changes of the hyaloid arteries in SHRSP at 11 weeks of age, when hypertension developed.
