Figure 1.

(a) Protein glycation Maillard reactions. The Maillard reaction is initiated by a deprotonated amine on the anomeric carbon of an open-chain reducing sugar to reversibly form a Schiff base species, followed by acid catalysis to rearrange into a stable Amadori product (aldosamine → ketosamine). Figure reproduced with permission from Ref.⁵ (b) The structure of some common AGEs including CML, CEL, pentosidine, pyrraline and imidazolone.