Corneal crystallins and the development of cellular transparency
Open accessAbstract
Past studies have established that the cornea like the lens abundantly expresses a few water-soluble enzyme/proteins in a taxon specific fashion. Based on these similarities it has been proposed that the lens and the cornea form a structural unit, the 'refracton', that has co-evolved through gene sharing to maximize light transmission and refraction to the retina. Thus far, the analogy between corneal crystallins and lens crystallins has been limited to similarities in the abundant expression, with few reports concerning their structural function. This review covers recent studies that establish a clear relationship between expression of corneal crystallins and light scattering from corneal stromal cells, i.e. keratocytes, that support a structural role for corneal crystallins in the development of transparency similar to that of lens crystallins that would be consistent with the 'refracton' hypothesis.
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Stromal cells contain cytoplasmic molecules called corneal crystallins that act in much the same way as crystallins in the lens.
“They postulated that stromal cells contain cytoplasmic molecules called corneal crystallins that act in much the same was as crystallins in the lens.”
From Corneal structure and transparency (2015) · cites this paper as Jester, 2008
Corneal keratocytes do not scatter light because their refractive index matches that of the surrounding matrix.
“Corneal keratocytes do not scatter light because their refractive index matches that of the surrounding matrix.”
From Structural control of corneal transparency, refractive power and dynamics (2025) · cites this paper as [7]
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Corneal structure and transparency
Meek, K. M., & Knupp, C. (2015) · Progress in Retinal and Eye Research · doi:10.1016/j.preteyeres.2015.07.001 · Cited by 853 · see citing works
Structural control of corneal transparency, refractive power and dynamics
Meek, K. M., Knupp, C., Lewis, P. N., Morgan, S. R., & Hayes, S. (2025) · Eye · doi:10.1038/s41433-024-02969-7 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
- Authors
- Jester, J. V.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Jester, James V.
- ORCID
- Jester, James V.
- Venue
- Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-04
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 82-93
- ISSN
- 1084-9521 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2275913
- OpenAlex
- W1964714190
- Cited by
- 189
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 0.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01ey013215-04)
- National Eye Institute (EY 16663, EY 13215, EY 17963, R01EY017963, R01 EY013215, R24EY016663)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Corneal Surgery and Treatments
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Ocular Disorders and Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Corneal surgery and disorders
- Keywords
- lens crystallins, corneal transparency, keratocytes, light scattering, corneal stroma, optical transmittance, gene sharing
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cornea, Corneal Opacity, Corneal Stroma, Crystallins, Humans, Lens, Crystalline, Light, Scattering, Radiation, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Epithelium, Corneal
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