Abstract: The assay was aimed to study whether feeding D-galactose, intraperitoneal injection of D-galactose, glucose or streptozotocin(STZ) could successfully establish diabetic cataract models of rats,and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the four methods. We tried to find out an effective, stability, practical and repeatable method of establishing diabetic cataract model, so as to provide theory and experience for building sugar cataract models of dogs. We used D-galactose feeding (30% quality score of food per day), intraperitoneal injection of 50% D-galactose (15 g/(kg·BW)), 50% glucose (15 g/(kg·BW)) and STZ (70 mg/(kg·BW)) to establish the models of rats with same age. We determined the blood sugar after 48 h, and examined lens situation after 72 h. Body weight was measured every 3 day. We also measured the food and water consumption during 30 days. The results showed that all lens in D-galactose feeding group were normal during 30 days of experiment. Both D-galactose and glucose injection caused cataract in the third day, although their blood sugar levels were normal all the time. STZ injection caused diabetes mellitus in 72 h, and induced cataract during 4 to 5 weeks. Therefore we concluded that galactose feeding couldn't successfully build cataract models of rats. D-galactose and glucose injections were fast and better in inducing cataract, which allowed to examine the delayed effect of drugs in a short period. STZ injection needed 4 to 5 weeks to establish diabetic cataract models which was a proper way to study the pathogenesis of diabetic cataract.

Key words: D-galactose; glucose; streptozotocin(STZ); diabetic cataract