| Abstract: | In this study, we found that 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) released from aortic collagen was significantly increased in diabetic rats with diabetic duration of 4, 8, 12 weeks (P less than 0.001, P less than 0.001, P less than 0.001). Collagen-link fluorescence (CLF) was also increased in diabetic rats P less than 0.005, P less than 0.05, P less than 0.01 respectively). Mean collagen-content was higher in diabetic rats than in the controls (P greater than 0.05, P less than 0.01, P less than 0.01 respectively). In diabetic rats, the amount of 5-HMF was related to plasma glucose concentration (r = +0.52, P less than 0.01) and CLF (r = +0.58, P less than 0.01). There was a positive correlation between CLF and collagen-content in diabetic rats (r = +0.45, P less than 0.05). These results suggest that NEG do occur in arterial collagen. Advanced glycosylation end products could participate in glucose derived cross-link formation and accumulate through the lifetime of collagen, which may change the function and structure of collagen. The increase of collagen content of arterial wall in diabetic rats may probably have resulted from excessive formation of cross-links. |
