Advanced Glycosylation: Chemistry, Biology, and Implications for Diabetes and Aging

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the biochemical basis of advanced glycosylation and discusses the diverse effects of advanced glycosylation products in biology and medicine. The chemical and biological conception of the advanced glycosylation process has evolved considerably since early studies on the formation of HbA1c. Despite difficulties in the structural elucidation of advanced glycosylation products, the ensuing years have yielded much insights into the biochemistry of AGEs, in large part assisted by consideration of related pathways in the Maillard reaction. Studies of biological processes have been motivated by the multiorgan pathology that occurs during chronic hyperglycemia. The basis of much of this pathology is still poorly understood. Related investigations of normal, age-related processes are only now beginning to bear insight into some of the clinicopathological sequalae that characterize normal aging. Given the slow, progressive nature of AGE accumulation in vivo and the active cell-mediated processes that appear to be required for AGE removal, it is likely that the investigation of advanced glycosylation mechanisms will continue to provide insight into a variety of additional biological and pathological processes that are characterized by long-term, age-related, and degenerative changes. © 1992 Academic Press Inc.