Arterial stiffening is a progressive, ubiquitous and irreversible aging process that is interwoven with and accelerated by various diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis and hypertension. In large arteries, aging is characterized by decreased turnover of collagen and elastin and increased advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and cross-links. Elastic fibers undergo lysis and disorganizatio...

BACKGROUND The majority of people with diabetes develop hypertension along with increased activity of the renin-angiotensin system. Methylglyoxal, a reactive glucose metabolite, is elevated in diabetic patients. We investigated the effects of methylglyoxal on the renin-angiotensin system and blood pressure. METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with a continuous infusion of methylglyo...

CONTEXT Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGEs) are signaling proteins associated to several vascular and neurological complications in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. AGEs proved to be a marker of negative outcome in both diabetes management and surgical procedures in these patients. The reported role of AGEs prompted the development of pharmacological inhibitors of their effects, giving ri...

BACKGROUND Alagebrium (ALT-711) has been shown to improve renal dysfunction in animal models of diabetes. METHODS To test its effects in diabetic nephropathy (DN), ALT-711 was administered (1 mg/kg daily i.p.) to 9-week-old female db/db mice (n = 15, group A1) for 3 weeks and to 3-month-old (n = 15, group A2), 7-month-old (n = 7, group A3), and 12-month-old (n = 5, group A4) female db/db mice...

BACKGROUND Despite the beneficial effects of alagebrium (ALA), a putative advanced glycation end-product (AGE) breaker, on diabetic nephropathy, its renoprotective mechanisms are incompletely understood. Since oxidative stress exacerbates diabetic renal injury through interaction with AGE, the present study examined the antioxidative property of ALA in db/db mice, mesangial cells cultured under...