Preferential sites for intramolecular glucosepane cross-link formation in type I collagen: A thermodynamic study.

ABSTRACT: The extracellular matrix (ECM) undergoes progressive age-related stiffening and loss of proteolytic digestibility due to an increase in concentration of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). The most abundant AGE, glucosepane, accumulates in collagen with concentrations over 100 times greater than all other AGEs. Detrimental collagen stiffening properties are believed to play a significant role in several age-related diseases such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Currently little is known of the potential location of covalently cross-linked glucosepane formation within collagen molecules; neither are there reports on how the respective cross-link sites affect the physical and biochemical properties of collagen. Using fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations (MD) we have

SUBMITTER: Collier TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4659457 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature