Analysis of the rat lens epithelial cell nucleus during ageing by scanning cytophotometry.

Nuclei of rat lens epithelial cells were stained with eosin and hematoxylin in order to investigate by cytophotometric analysis the effects of cellular ageing on their morphologic parameters and chromatin compaction. Our results demonstrate a decrease in the size of the nucleus without modification in their shape as a function of age. Older nuclei also have more condensed and heterogeneously distributed chromatin than young nuclei. The homogeneous population of nuclei in the young epithelium gave rise to a highly heterogeneous population in the old animal for both morphometric and densitometric parameters. In very old rats a small percentage of the cell nuclei retained young characteristics. These data support an earlier observation that growth of the lens epithelial cells declines with age.