Involvement of advanced glycation end products in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications: the protective role of regular physical activity

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) may play an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic diabetic complications and in the natural process of biological aging. In fact, maintained hyperglycaemia favours the formation of AGEs at the tissue level in diabetic patients, which may influence the triggering of different chronic pathologies of diabetes such as retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy and macro- and micro-vascular diseases. Moreover, the literature has also demonstrated the involvement of AGEs in biological aging, which may explain the accelerated process of aging in diabetic patients. The practice of regular physical activity appears to positively influence glycaemic control, particularly in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. This occurs through the diminution of fasting glycaemia, with a consequent reduction of glycation of plasmatic components suggested by the normalisation of HbA1c plasmatic levels. This exercise-induced positive effect is evident in the blood of diabetic patients and may also reach the endothelium and connective tissues of different organs, such as the kidneys and eyes, and systems, such as the cardiovascular and nervous systems, with a local reduction of AGEs production and further deceleration of organ dysfunction. The aim of this paper was to review the literature concerning this topic to coherently describe the harmful effects of AGEs in organ dysfunction induced by diabetes in advanced age as well as the mechanisms behind the apparent protection given by the practice of regular physical

Treatment of muscle injuries by local administration of autologous conditioned serum : a pilot study on sportsmen with muscle strains

Muscle injuries represent a major part of sports injuries and are a challenging problem in traumatology. Strain injuries are the most common muscle injuries after contusions. These injuries can lead to significant pain and disability causing time to be lost to training and competition. Despite the frequency of strain injuries the treatment available is limited and is generally not sufficient to enhance muscle regeneration efficiently when fast resumption of sport activity is a primary target. A number of growth factors play a specific role in regeneration and it has been proven that a previously described method of physically and chemically stimulating whole blood (to produce autologous conditioned serum) induces concentration increases in FGF-2, HGF, and TGF-beta1. A preliminary study was conducted on muscle strain injuries in professional sportsmen receiving either: 1. autologous conditioned serum (ACS) or 2. Actovegin/Traumeel treatment as control. Assessment of recovery from injury was done by: 1. sport professional's ability to participate to 100 % under competition conditions in their respective sport and 2. MRI analysis. A significant difference in the recovery time from injury was demonstrated: 16.6 +/- 0.9 in the ACS treated instead of 22.3 +/- 1.2 (mean +/- SEM) days in the Actovegin/Traumeel control group (p = 0.001). MRI analysis supported the observed acceleration of the lesion recovery time. We conclude that ACS injection is a promising approach to reduce the time to recovery from muscle injury