A Potential Approach to Tackling CEL and CML Advanced Glycation End Products

Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) form in tissues as a side-effect of the normal operation of cellular metabolism where it touches on the processing of sugars. There are many types of AGEs, most short-lived, but some persistent and challenging for our biochemistry to break down. These persistent AGEs lead to cross-links, binding together molecules in the extracellular matrix and thereby altering the structural properties of tissues. This is perhaps most harmful where it reduces tissue elasticity, and is thus an important contributing cause of skin and vascular aging. While sugars are involved, it is much debated as to whether the contents of diet, either fully formed AGEs from certain cooked and processed foods, or precursors in the form of excessive amounts of sugar, has much influence at all over the generation of the types of AGE involved in aging. As mentioned, there are many types of AGE. One of the big questions in the small research community focused on AGEs is whether or not glucosepane AGEs are the only target worthy of attention in the matter of aging. There is certainly good evidence for cross-links in humans to be overwhelmingly made of glucosepane, but equally there is a faction who argue that the research community does not yet have sufficiently robust data to be able to ignore AGEs such as carboxymethyl-lysine (CML). The challenge inherent to all work on AGEs, and why this part of the larger field has been a comparative backwater for decades ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs