Lead concentration in different compartments of the bovine eye.

It is known that lead is a metabolic substitute of calcium and recently, in vitro results showed that glycosaminoglycans and proteins are capable of binding lead. Therefore, in this work, the level of lead in aqueous humor, vitreous humor, lens and sclera of bovine eyes was analyzed in order to establish a relationship between lead concentration and the contents of glycosaminoglycans, proteins, water and calcium in those structures. Lead was determined by means of atomic absorption spectrometry after acid digestion. Our results suggest a direct relationship between the contents of proteins and glycosaminoglycans, and the ability of the different eye structures to retain lead. Nevertheless, an inverse relationship between water content and lead concentration was found. No association between calcium and lead concentrations was observed.