“…In general, while senile cataracts are caused by cortical changes such as swelling and liquefaction of lens fiber, subcapsular cataracts display abnormal growth and stratification of lens epithelial cells from the early stages of the disease, suggesting that the development of cataracts is profoundly influenced by epithelial cell growth. In previous studies [4,14] that attempted to elucidate the cause of abnormal growth of lens epithelial cells, we reported that, in rat galactose cataracts, which is an animal model of diabetic cataracts, repeated ectopic growth of the lens epithelial cells was observed in areas other than the equator in the early stage of cataract development [14]. In the present study, two different methods, fluorescence cytophotometry of 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining and immunohistochemical staining of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), were used to study the growth kinetics of epithelial cells of the anterior pole of lenses in rats fed low concentration galactose diets that are unable to induce diabetic cataracts in the early stages.…”