Although the accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) of the Maillard reaction in our body is reported to increase with aging and is enhanced by the pathogenesis of lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, routine measurement of AGEs is not applied to regular clinical diagnoses due to the lack of conventional and reliable techniques for AGEs analyses. In the present study, a non-invasive AGEs measuring device was developed and the association between skin AGEs and diabetic complications was evaluated. To clarify the association between the duration of hyperglycemia and accumulation of skin fluorophores, diabetes was induced in mice by streptozotocin. As a result, the fluorophore in the auricle of live mice was increased by the induction of diabetes. Subsequent studies revealed that the fingertip of the middle finger in the non-dominant hand is suitable for the measurement of the fluorescence intensity by the standard deviation value. Furthermore, the fluorescence intensity was increased by the presence of diabetic microvascular complications. This study provides the first evidence that the accumulation of fluorophore in the fingertip increases with an increasing number of microvascular complications, demonstrating that the presence of diabetic microvascular complications may be predicted by measuring the fluorophore concentration in the fingertip.

The inhibition of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) by daily meals is believed to become an effective prevention for lifestyle-related diseases. In the present study, the inhibitory effect of hot water extracts of mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) pericarp (WEM) on the formation of pentosidine, one of AGEs, in vitro and in vivo and the remedial effect on skin conditions were measured. WEM significantly inhibited pentosidine formation during gelatin incubation with ribose. Several compounds purified from WEM, such as garcimangosone D and rhodanthenone B, were identified as inhibitors of pentosidine formation. Oral administration of WEM at 100 mg/day to volunteer subjects for 3 months reduced the serum pentosidine contents. Because obtaining skin biopsies from healthy volunteers is ethically difficult, AGE accumulation in the skin was estimated by a fluorescence detector. The oral administration of WEM significantly reduced the skin autofluorescence intensity, demonstrating that WEM also reduced AGE accumulation in the skin. Furthermore, the elasticity and moisture content of the skin was also improved by WEM. These results demonstrate that intakes of WEM reduces the glycation stress and results in the improvement of skin conditions.

Although extracts of the roots and stems of Salacia chinensis have been used in folk medicines for chronic diseases such as rheumatism, irregular menstruation, asthma and diabetes mellitus, little is known about the mechanism by which Salacia chinensis extract (SCE) ameliorates these diseases. To clarify whether SCE ameliorates the progression of lifestyle-related diseases, the inhibitory effect of SCE on the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) was analyzed in a rat model of streptozotocin-induced diabetes. Although the oral administration of SCE did not ameliorate the diabetes-induced decrease in body weight, it ameliorated the increase in glycoalbumin levels in diabetic rats. An analysis by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) demonstrated that the levels of N(ε)-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) were highest in the femurs and that they increased by the induction of diabetes. The administration of SCE also ameliorated the decreased femur strength and the accumulation of CML. Furthermore, when all of the carbohydrates in the chow of diabetic rats were replaced with free glucose, the administration of SCE significantly ameliorated a diabetes-induced increase in glycoalbumin and decrease in serum creatinine level and body weight. This study provides evidence to support that SCE ameliorates diabetes-induced abnormalities by improving the uptake of glucose by various organs.

Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) of the Maillard reaction were originally measured according to their fluorescent and browning properties. A subsequent study with instrumental analyses such as high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography mass spectrometry more clearly demonstrated the involvement of each AGE structure in pathological conditions. Furthermore, immunochemical methods have also been developed to clarify the localization of AGEs in tissues and measurement of AGEs in multiple clinical samples. Although the involvement of AGEs in age-related diseases has progressed due to immunochemical techniques, the relationship between AGE structure and diseases has not been clear because little was known about the epitope structure of each anti-AGE antibody. However, the development of epitope-identified antibodies against AGEs has made it possible to clarify AGE structures involved in diseases. This review discusses not only the usability of anti-AGE antibodies to evaluate AGEs and disease pathology and screen AGE inhibitors, but also describes their usage.

Prolonged hyperglycemia generates advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), which are believed to be involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. In the present study, we developed a polyclonal antibody against fructose-modified proteins (Fru-P antibody) and identified its epitope as glucoselysine (GL) by NMR and LC-electrospray ionization (ESI)- quadrupole TOF (QTOF) analyses and evaluated its potential role in diabetes sequelae. Although the molecular weight of GL was identical to that of fructoselysine (FL), GL was distinguishable from FL because GL was resistant to acid hydrolysis, which converted all of the FLs to furosine. We also detected GL in vitro when reduced BSA was incubated with fructose for 1 day. However, when we incubated reduced BSA with glucose, galactose, or mannose for 14 days, we did not detect GL, suggesting that GL is dominantly generated from fructose. LC-ESI-MS/MS experiments with synthesized [13C6]GL indicated that the GL levels in the rat eye lens time-dependently increase after streptozotocin-induced diabetes. We observed a 31.3-fold increase in GL 8 weeks after the induction compared with nondiabetic rats, and Nϵ-(carboxymethyl)lysine and furosine increased by 1.7- and 21.5-fold, respectively, under the same condition. In contrast, sorbitol in the lens levelled off at 2 weeks after diabetes induction. We conclude that GL may be a useful biological marker to monitor and elucidate the mechanism of protein degeneration during progression of diabetes.