Indian Journal of Ophthalmology

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Year
: 2016  |  Volume : 64  |  Issue : 6  |  Page : 476-

Authors' reply


P Mahesh Shanmugam, Aditya Barigali, Jayant Kadaskar, Sandip Borgohain, Mishra Divaynsh Kailash Chandra, R Rajesh, CK Minija 
 Department of Vitreoretinal Services and Ocular Oncology, Sankara Eye Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Correspondence Address:
P Mahesh Shanmugam
Department of Vitreoretinal Services and Ocular Oncology, Sankara Eye Hospital, Kundalahalli Gate, Bangaluru - 560 037, Karnataka
India




How to cite this article:
Shanmugam P M, Barigali A, Kadaskar J, Borgohain S, Kailash Chandra MD, Rajesh R, Minija C K. Authors' reply.Indian J Ophthalmol 2016;64:476-476


How to cite this URL:
Shanmugam P M, Barigali A, Kadaskar J, Borgohain S, Kailash Chandra MD, Rajesh R, Minija C K. Authors' reply. Indian J Ophthalmol [serial online] 2016 [cited 2024 Mar 29 ];64:476-476
Available from: https://journals.lww.com/ijo/pages/default.aspx/text.asp?2016/64/6/476/187691


Full Text

Sir,

We thank the authors for their comments on our article "Effect of lanosterol on human cataract nucleus:" [1],[2]

In regard to the comment on mechanisms of cataract formation in congenital and acquired cataracts being different, we agree with the authors and have hi-lighted the same issue in the discussion, quoting Hejtmancik and Kantorow. [3] While it would be appropriate to do this study in the pediatric population, the mechanism of removal of a cataract in the children (lens aspiration) may not allow such a study in vivo, and this would be a major limiting factor to perform such a studyWe mirrored our experiment on the one designed by Zhao et al. wherein they had immersed the lens for 6 days. [4] While we agree that adult lenses may need to be exposed to lanosterol for longer/higher concentration and have acknowledged the same in the discussion. However, the absolute absence of difference between the control and lanosterol groups at the end of 6 days makes us wonder if changing the concentration or duration would have made any difference to the resultsIt is possible that our methodology of immersing bare nuclei without the capsule may have impacted the study results, and we have indicated the same in the discussion. However, lanosterol acts by reversing the protein aggregation within the lens fibers and in the absence of the capsule, lanosterol would have better access to the lens fibers and should theoretically have been more effective and not less effective.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

References

1Venkatesh R, Gurav P, Tibrewal S. Effect of lanosterol on human nuclei. Indian J Ophthalmol 2016;64:475.
2Shanmugam PM, Barigali A, Kadaskar J, Borgohain S, Mishra DK, Ramanjulu R, et al. Effect of lanosterol on human cataract nucleus. Indian J Ophthalmol 2015;63:888-90.
3Hejtmancik JF, Kantorow M. Molecular genetics of age-related cataract. Exp Eye Res 2004;79:3-9.
4Zhao L, Chen XJ, Zhu J, Xi YB, Yang X, Hu LD, et al. Lanosterol reverses protein aggregation in cataracts. Nature 2015;523:607-11.