title: Collagen cross-linking of skin in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Collagen cross-links of skin tissue (left upper arm) from 11 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 9 age-matched control subjects were quantified. It was found that patients with ALS had a significant reduction in the content of an age-related, stable cross-link, histidinohydroxylysinonorleucine, that was negatively correlated with the duration of illness. The contents of sodium borohydride-reducible labile cross-links, dehydro-hydroxylysinonorleucine and dehydro-histidinohydroxymerodesmosine, were significantly increased and were positively associated with the duration of illness (r = 0.703, p less than 0.05 and r = 0.684, p less than 0.05, respectively). The results clearly indicate that during the course of ALS, the cross-linking pathway of skin collagen runs counter to its normal aging, resulting in a "rejuvenation" phenomenon of skin collagen. Thus, cross-linking of skin collagen is affected in ALS.
authors.affiliation: Dental Research Center, University of North Carolina 27599-7455.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamauchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D001132:Arm; D001894:Borohydrides; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism*; D003895:Desmosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D004151:Dipeptides / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006639:Histidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000378:metabolism; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000378:metabolism; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D012867:Skin / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001894:Borohydrides; D004151:Dipeptides; C075793:histidinohydroxylysinonorleucine; D003895:Desmosine; C010991:delta-hydroxylysylnorleucine; D006639:Histidine; C002527:histidinohydroxymerodesmosine; C025364:sodium borohydride; D003094:Collagen