Photochemical bleaching of fluorescent glycosylation products

We have examined the effect of visible light and ultraviolet on the non-enzymatic glycosylation of lysine in vitro. Glucose and L-lysine were mixed and incubated under white light, UV-A, UV-B, or in the dark. During 15 days of incubation in the dark, a heterogeneous mixture of intensely brown chromophores developed, with a dominant fluorescence excitation maximum at 350 nm and emission maxima near 425 nm. The process was delayed or inhibited to a moderate extent by white light, whereas under UV-A and UV-B this effect was more pronounced. We conclude that non-enzymatic glycosylation can be photochemically modulated by both visible light and ultraviolet.