Papers of the Week

Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are proteins/lipids that are glycated upon sugar exposure and are often increased during inflammatory diseases such as osteoarthritis and neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we developed an extracellular matrix (ECM) using glycated type I collagen (ECM-GC), which produced similar levels of AGEs to those detected in the sera of arthritic mice. In order to determine whether AGEs were sufficient to stimulate sensory neurons, dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) cells were cultured on ECM-GC or ECM-NC-coated plates. ECM-GC or ECM-NC were favorable for DRG cells expansion. However, ECM-GC cultivated neurons displayed thinner F-actin filaments, rounded morphology, and reduced neuron interconnection compared to ECM-NC. In addition, ECM-GC did not affect RAGE expression levels in the neurons, although induced rapid p38, MAPK and ERK activation. Finally, ECM-GC stimulated the secretion of nitrite and TNF-α by DRG cells. Taken together, our in vitro glycated ECM model suitably mimics the in vivo microenvironment of inflammatory disorders and provides new insights into the role of ECM impairment as a nociceptive stimulus.