Treatment with
HDMF and HEMF (1.0 mg/ml) significantly reduced the incidence
of opaque lenses from Wister rats, which were incubated
for 7 d with a high concentration of galactose. The
effect of HDMF and HEMF was apparent, even at a low
concentration (0.1 mg/ml), but there was no effect on the
lenses treated with HMF, which has a weaker antioxidative
activity than HDMF and HEMF. An other experiment was
performed using spontaneous cataract rats (ICR/f rats), the
hereditary cataract model. A saline solution of 4-hydroxy-
3(2H)-furanone (1.0%) was dropped three times a day on
both the eyes of 7-week-old ICR/f rats for 3 weeks.