Effect of collagen turnover on the accumulation of advanced glycation end products

Verzijl N, DeGroot J, Thorpe SR, Bank RA, Shaw JN, Lyons TJ, Bijlsma JW, Lafeber FP, Baynes JW, TeKoppele JM · The Journal of Biological Chemistry

Explains why cartilage is the tissue where glycation matters most. AGE accumulation is governed by how long a collagen molecule stays in place, and articular cartilage collagen has one of the longest half-lives in the body — so it accumulates crosslinks essentially for life, with no meaningful mechanism for clearing them.

Population

Human tissue collagens with widely differing turnover rates, including articular cartilage

Intervention

Not applicable — measurement of AGE accumulation against protein half-life

Comparator

Tissues with faster collagen turnover

Limitations

Biochemical measurement across tissues; it establishes the accumulation kinetics, not a health consequence.