Characterisation of a novel UV filter in the lens of the thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus)

Authors

Brian Lyons, University of SydneyFollow
Peter Karuso, Macquarie University
Joanne Jamie, Macquarie UniversityFollow
Mukoma F. Simpanya, Oakland University
Frank Giblin, Oakland University
Roger J. W Truscott, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

90381

Publication Details

Lyons, B., Karuso, P., Jamie, J. F., Simpanya, M. F., Giblin, F. & Truscott, R. J. W. (2014). Characterisation of a novel UV filter in the lens of the thirteen-lined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus). Experimental Eye Research, 121 114-120.

Abstract

Structural analysis of a novel UV filter present in the lens of the thirteen-lined ground squirrel has shown that it is related in structure to N-acetyl-3-hydroxykynurenine. This finding is consistent with the fact that the squirrel lenses also contain high levels of this tryptophan metabolite. Analysis of both NMR and mass spectrometric data suggested that the novel UV filter compound forms by condensation of proline with N-acetyl-3-hydroxykynurenine. Its absorption maximum at 340 nm is more than 20 nm lower than that of the kynurenines and it may therefore assist in filtering the more damaging shorter wavelengths of UVA.

Grant Number

NHMRC/1008667

Additional Grant Number

http://purl.org/au-research/grants/NHMRC/1008667