Publication . Oliveira, Luis MA; Lages, Ana; Gomes, Ricardo A; Neves, Henrique; Família, Carlos; Coelho, Ana V; Quintas, Alexandre
Background: Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood glucose homeostasis and is a central protein in a medical
condition termed insulin injection amyloidosis. It is intimately associated with glycaemia and is vulnerable to
glycation by glucose and other highly reactive carbonyls like methylglyoxal, especially in diabetic conditions.
Protein glycation is involved in structure and stability changes that impair protein functionality, and is associated
with several human diseases, such as diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s
disease and Familiar Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy. In the present work, methylglyoxal was investigated for their
effects on the structure, stability and fibril formation of insulin.
