Glucosepane

Glucosepane is a protein cross-linking product. It is the most common protein cross-link found in senescent skin. Glucosepane forms from a glucose-lysine Amadori product reacting with an arginine molecule.

Glucosepane occurs with about twice the frequency in diabetics as is found in non-diabetics. There is controversy about the prevalence of glucosepane crosslinks compared with alpha-diketone crosslinks. Alpha-diketone crosslinks are believed by some researchers to also accumulate with age in concentrations comparable to glucosepane. However, the alpha-diketone crosslinks apparently are destroyed by the analytical methods used by other researchers, leading them to state that they don't exist. Other crosslinks are much less prevalent than glucosepane and alpha-diketones. Thus, the Monnier group reports that in the extracellular matrix of the skin of a non-diabetic 90-year-old, glucosepane accounts for about 50 times the protein cross-linking as all other forms of protein cross-linking.