Figure 2.

Crosslinking by AGEs induces various physical changes in type-I collagen dominated tissues. In the left-most panels, it can be seen that incubation of rat tail tendon fascicles in high concentrations of metabolite methylglyoxal (MGO) clearly affects tissue mechanics72. Closer investigation reveals that while tissue elasticity is only slightly affected, more dominant physical changes are observed in the viscoelastic properties of these tissues, their mode of tensile failure, and their resistance to thermal breakdown. All shown results has been obtained in research conducted ethically according to international standards73.