Investigating the Damage Done By AGEs
A buildup of AGEs, advanced glycation endproducts, is responsible for a portion of the damage of aging. As biotechnology advances, researchers can investigate how this happens in more detail: "The Maillard reaction and its end products, AGE-s (Advanced Glycation End products) are rightly considered as one of the important mechanisms of post-translational tissue modifications with aging. We studied the effect of two AGE-products [on] the expression profile of a large number of genes potentially involved in the above mentioned effects of AGE-s. The two AGE-products were added to human skin fibroblasts and gene expression profiles investigated using microarrays. ... Most of the gene-expression modifications are in agreement with biological effects of Maillard products, especially interference with normal tissue structure and increased tissue destruction." This sort of investigation should be able to confirm present thinking on the most important forms of AGE - such as the emphasis on glucosepane - and therefore focus efforts on ways to safely remove those forms first of all.