Abstract
Diabetic patients have a higher rate of bone fracture and bone fragility compared to nondiabetic patients. A characteristic of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D) is elevated blood sugar concentrations which means the tissues of the body are in hyperglycemic conditions. High blood sugar has been shown to increase nonenzymatic crosslinks between collagen fibers, known as Advance Glycation End-products (AGEs), in bone tissue and reduce the quality of the bone. Metformin is a commonly prescribed drug for T2D patients to reduce blood sugar spikes but has also been shown to reduce AGEs in other tissues in previous studies. In order to find a way to reduce AGEs in bone, and therefore increase bone quality, our hypothesis is AGE formation will be reduced when bone tissue is incubated in hyperglycemic conditions with metformin.