These compounds, known in food chemistry for a long time, are generated by non-enzymatic reaction of a sugar ketone or aldehyde group with free amino groups of proteins or amino acids. AGEs are subsequently formed as a mixture of heterocyclic compounds through a complex cascade of dehydration, condensation, fragmentation, oxidation and cyclization reactions.
Histochemical studies show that AGEs are components of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles .