Controlled Formation of Carboxymethyllysine in Bone Matrix through Designed Glycation Reaction.

It has been a challenge to establish a link between specific advanced glycation end products (AGEs) as causal agents of different pathologies and age-related diseases, primarily because of the lack of suitable in vitro experimental strategies facilitating increased formation of a specific AGE, here carboxymethyllysine (CML), over other AGEs under controlled conditions. CML is of considerable importance to various oxidative stress-related diseases, because in vivo formation of this AGE is connected with cellular oxidative/carbonyl metabolism. The mechanistic implications of CML accumulation in bone remain to be elucidated.