Figure 1. Chaperone activity of HMW and LMW αA-crystallins

Chaperone activity of αA-crystallin from the HMW and LMW fractions from 50 year old lenses and from the LMW fraction from 2 year old lenses. This assay was used to measure the ability of α-crystallin (20 or 40 μg/700 μl) to protect βL-crystallin (200 μg/700 μl) against heat-induced aggregation at 60 °C. A: βL-Crystallin in the absence of αA-crystallin; B: βL-Crystallin in the presence of HMW αA-crystallin from 50 year old tissue (βL/αA= 5/1 (w/w)); C: βL-Crystallin in the presence of HMW αA-crystallin from 50 year old tissue (βL/αA= 10/1 (w/w)); D: βL-Crystallin in the presence of LMW αA-crystallin from 50 year old tissue (βL/αA= 5/1 (w/w)); E: βL-Crystallin in the presence of LMW αA-crystallin from 50 year old tissue (βL/αA= 10/1 (w/w)) F: βL-Crystallin in the presence of LMW αA-crystallin from 2 year old tissue (βL/αA= 10/1 (w/w)); G: HMW αA-crystallin from 50 year old tissue (40 μg/700 μl) in the absence of βL-crystallin; H: LMW αA-crystallin from 50 year old tissue (40 μg/700 μl) in the absence of βL-crystallin; I: LMW αA-crystallin from 2 year old tissue (40 μg/700 μl) in the absence of βL-crystallin.