2008 Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 58-62
AGEs accumulate in all human tissues during aging and diabetes, thereby decreasing proteoglycan synthesis in articular cartilage. It was therefore hypothesized that AGE accumulation in nucleus pulposus cells might decrease the proteoglycan production, similar to that seen in articular cartilage. Our findings show that AGEs and RAGE were present in the nucleus pulposus of intervertebral discs. We have also demonstrated that AGEs suppress aggrecan expression at both the mRNA and protein levels. We propose the hypothesis that AGEs can accumulate over time in the nucleus pulposus and subsequently bind to the specific AGE receptor, thereby inhibiting the secretion of aggrecan. This might play an important role in the onset and progression of disc degeneration, similar to that seen in articular cartilage.