Presence of carcinogenic glutamic-acid pyrolysis products in human cataractous lens

The carcinogenic glutamic-acid pyrolysis products, 2-amino-6-methyldipyri-do[1, 2-a:3’, 2’-d]imidazole (Glu-P-1) and 2-amino-dipyrido[l, 2-a:3, 2’-d]imidazole (Glu-P-2), were found to be present in human cataractous lenses, but not in normal bovine lenses. Contents of Glu-P-1 and Glu-P-2 in 35 human cataractous lenses were 832 and 20 ng, respectively. These results indicate that the human cataractous lens is exposed to the fluorescent compounds, carcinogenic glutamic pyrolysis products.