[Aging mechanisms of proteins]

Abstract

All the living molecules appear to suffer from the deleterious effects of aging, but the primary mechanisms of this inexorable evolution are still unknown. In the case of proteins, two major types of chemical reactions participate in the aging phenomena: 1) structural transformations induced by the addition of radicals by enzymic or non-enzymic reactions, 2) proteolytic cleavages. Among the reactions of the first group, the nonenzymatic glycation is the more generalized, not only in diabetic patients but also in non diabetic subjects. This glycation depends on the probabilities of encounters between circulating glucose molecules and free amino groups existing either at the N-terminal end of the polypeptide chains or on the lysyl side chains. These reactions are more frequent in the extracellular spaces and connective tissues because glucose circulates freely in these spaces, because the level of glucose is better controlled inside the cells (and even lower in diabetes mellitus), and finally because the proteins of these regions, such as the collagens, fibronectin and elastin, are relatively long lived, even if their life-span is really shorter than it was precedently believed. The binding of sugar residues to protein amino groups determines frequent modifications of structure that often make the molecule inactive. For instance, when a glucose unit binds to a lysyl radical located in the active center of an enzyme, it suppresses the activity of this enzyme. More generally, in the case of the connective tissue proteins that participate in complex supramolecular assemblies, the presence of additional radicals on some ponctual locations may interfere with the correct association of molecules. This is particularly true for basement membranes whose structure is impaired in diabetes. Glycation might also introduce abnormal cross-links between polypeptides or modify the antigenic power of some proteins and explain the formation of autoantibodies. Another property of glycated proteins is their reaction with oxygen leading to the formation of superoxide. The binding of a reducing sugar on an amino function is followed by an Amadori rearrangement that forms a ketol group. Ketols groups have the property to transmit electrons to molecular oxygen, and to forming superoxide radicals. Superoxide is capable of degrading only one protein: collagen, but it is also able to transform itself into hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals, which are far more toxic than O2-. The result of the formation of these oxygen free radicals from glycated proteins is the initiation of the degradation of several types of proteins, like the collagens.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)