Fig. 6. Characterization of lens fiber proteins in 3-month-old wt and SPARC-null
lenses. Lens fiber cells from +/+ and SPARC-null (-/-)
animals were separated into cortical and nuclear fractions (see Materials and
Methods). Proteins were extracted into water-soluble, urea-soluble and pellet
(urea-insoluble) fractions and were resolved by SDS-PAGE under reducing
conditions. Lanes 1, +/+ water-soluble cortex; 2, +/+
urea-soluble cortex; 3, +/+ pellet cortex; 4, -/-
water-soluble cortex; 5, -/- urea-soluble cortex; 6, -/-
pellet cortex; molecular weight markers (kDa); 7, +/+ water-soluble
nucleus; 8, +/+ urea-soluble nucleus; 9, +/+ pellet
nucleus; 10, -/- water-soluble nucleus; 11, -/-
urea-soluble nucleus; 12, -/- pellet nucleus. The different
fractions between +/+ and -/- lenses exhibit similar
patterns, with no alteration of the major crystallins (arrow).
