Abstract
Aim of the paper was to examine the irradiation effect of two doses of UVA rays (365 nm) on the rabbit cornea and lens. Corneas of anesthetized adult albino rabbits were irradiated with UVA rays for 5 days (1.01 J/cm2 daily in one group of rabbits and 2.02 J/cm2 daily in the second group of animals).
The third day after the last irradiation, the rabbits were sacrificed, and their eyes were employed for spectrophotometrical (corneal UV-VIS spectra), biochemical (antioxidant and prooxidant enzymes, nitric oxide measured as nitrate, malondialdehyde) and immunohistochemical (expression of nitric oxide synthase) investigations. The staining for endothelial nitric oxide synthase was more pronounced in corneas irradiated with the higher UVA dose.
Otherwise, UVA rays at either dose did not significantly change corneal light absorption properties and did not cause statistically significant metabolic changes in the cornea or lens.