AGEs and Glucose Levels Modulate Type I and III Procollagen mRNA Synthesis in Dermal Fibroblasts Cells Culture

In the dermis, fibroblasts play an important role in the turnover of the dermal extracellular matrix. Collagen I and III, the most important dermal proteins of the extracellular matrix, are progressively altered during ageing and diabetes. For mimicking diabetic conditions, the cultured human dermal fibroblasts were incubated with increasing amounts of AGE-modified BSA and D-glucose for 24 hours. The expression of procollagen α2(I) and procollagen α1(III) mRNA was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR. Our data revealed that the treatment of fibroblasts with AGE-modified BSA upregulated the expression of procollagen α2(I) and procollagen α1(III) mRNA in a dose-dependent manner. High glucose levels mildly induced a profibrogenic pattern, increasing the procollagen α2(I) mRNA expression whereas there was a downregulation tendency of procollagen α1(III) mRNA.