Disulfide bonds and cataracts
Cysteine oxidation: The eye lens proteins, or crystallins, contain a high number of cysteine residues. Under normal conditions, the thiol (-SH) groups of cysteine are reduced. However, due to oxidative stress from factors like aging or UV radiation, these thiol groups can be oxidized to form disulfide bonds (-S-S-).
Reducing agents are chemicals that break disulfide bonds by providing electrons to the sulfur atoms, converting them back to their reduced thiol form.