Experts explained that when blood glucose levels rise, it attaches and leads to its adhesion and degradation, causing loss of skin elasticity, thinning of blood vessels, and nerve damage, according to the Russian Science Foundation.
Scientists from the Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg, and the I. Ya. Postovsky Institute of Organic Synthesis of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Yekaterinburg, have manufactured compounds capable of inhibiting glucose adhesion to proteins. These compounds are multi-ring azathietriene molecules, consisting of carbon rings in which several carbon atoms are replaced with nitrogen.
In the same context, the project leader supported by a grant, and associate professor at the Scientific, Educational, and Innovative Center for Chemical and Pharmaceutical Technologies at Ural Federal University, Konstantin Savateev, stated: “Our compounds are unique because they combine two mechanisms of action. They not only lower glucose levels but also prevent the formation of toxic sweetened proteins, which are the end products of glycosylation.”
The researchers tested these compounds on two samples of cow’s milk. Some samples showed an inhibition of ‘sweetened’ protein formation by more than 70%, twice the effectiveness of pyridoxamine. The new molecules can become the basis for developing treatments for type 2 diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and some types of malignant tumors.
At this stage, scientists face the task of continuing to work with the obtained molecules, in addition to studying their chemical properties to discover new useful compounds.
