Counteraction of living systems to the development of age cataract. Physico-chemical explanation

Simultaneous processes occur in living systems that lead to both an increase in entropy (chaos) and its decrease. A decrease in entropy is possible only in open systems, associated with a continuous flow of energy-intensive compounds into them, such as glucose, the oxidation of which is energetically associated with the synthesis of ATP, the universal carrier of chemical energy to ensure functioning of living systems. When energy-intensive compounds are oxidized, entropy increases, and when ATP is synthesized, it decreases. In living systems, not only reactions associated with the synthesis of ATP and their functioning occur, but also aging does, namely, the oxidation of hydrophobic formations in cells, in particular, the membrane matrix, following the type of chain reactions with degenerate branching. The development of such chain reactions of oxidation in cells can be prevented by the penetration into them of various antioxidants, for example, resveratrol, which is contained in grapes and other plants, and quenchers of molecular oxygen in the singlet state, for example, iodides, as well as by creating cyclic processes involving desaturases that prevent an increase in viscosity in the matrix of membranes up to certain limiting values, after which cell death becomes inevitable. In this regard, the processes leading to cataracts (clouding of the eye lenses) are indicative. In the absence of desaturases in the lens fibers of rats, exposure to UV light leads to cataracts in 2-4 months, while the presence of desaturases in human eye lens fibers makes it possible to avoid the occurrence of cataracts for many decades. The reaction of conversion of lipids with saturated fatty acids into unsaturated ones, catalyzed by desaturases, leads to counteracting the aging of the membrane matrix. The vital feature of this reaction is that it occurs only when the membrane matrix is cured. This reaction first leads to liquefaction of the matrix up to a certain state, after which it stops. The reasons leading either to revival of desaturase or to decrease in its activity are discussed in this article.