Cellular GSH levels in the αA and αB crystallin knockout (KO) mouse retina.

<p>(A) GSH levels in two tissue segments of the eye, namely RPE/Choroid and neural retina. Data, presented as percentage over control age-matched mice, showed a significant 50% decrease in GSH level in the neural retina and a ∼25–30% decrease in the RPE/choroid in αA crystallin KO (αA −/−) and αB crystallin KO (αB −/−) samples. RNA and protein were extracted from the posterior eye cup of the crystallin KO and WT mice. The gene expression of the catalytic (B) and the modifier unit (C) as well as the protein expression (D) of the GSH rate limiting enzyme GCLC did not show any significant change among αA (−/−), αB(−/−) and WT mice. GCLC- glutamate-cysteine ligase, catalytic subunit, GCLM- glutamate-cysteine ligase, modifier subunit, KO- knock out, WT- wild type. ** P<0.01 vs controls.