Chondroitin sulfate degradation

Chitosan freeze-dried fleeces support chondrocyte attachment and synthesis of extracellular matrix [344]. Chitosan was used to assist the spontaneous tissue repair of the meniscus [345]. The repair of the cartilage and the prevention of its degradation in osteoarthritis is, however, possible with the association of glucosamine sulfate salt and chondroitine sulfate, the latter being particularly effective [346]. 

NS AIDS were never able to stop the different processes of inflammation, degradation, and reparation of OA. Intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid has also not been able to stop the destruction of affected joint cartilage over time. The National Institute of Health (USA) has showed that glucosamine or chondroitin sulfate have comparative efficacy with placebo. 

Zuo J, Neubauer D, Dyess K, Ferguson TA, Muir D (1998) Degradation of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan enhances die neurite-promoting potential of spinal cord tissue. Exp Neurol 154 654-662. 

Dermatan sulfate may be distinguished from chondroitin 4- and 6-sulfates in that it is not degraded by testicular hyaluronidase and, furthermore, the desulfated mucopolysaccharide is unattacked by testicular and bacterial hyaluronidases (M17). Further diflFerentiation of dermatan sulfate from hyaluronic acid and the foregoing chondroitin sulfates is readily made on the basis of color reactions given by the different uronic acid components. Dermatan sulfate shows equimolar ratios of uronic acid ihexosamine sulfate when the uronic acid content is determined by the orcinol (K7) or decarboxylation (T4) methods, whereas significantly lower values are obtained by the carbazole method (D8). 

They are eliminases (lyases) that generate a double bond during the reaction, which is easily monitored by spectrophotometry. It is a common misconception that the bacterial Hyals have absolute specificity for HA. This is not entirely correct. Both bacterial and vertebrate enzymes degrade chondroitin (Ch) and chondroitin sulfate (ChS) [195], though some bacterial Hyals, such as the one from Streptomyces hyalurolyticus, often used as a research reagent, are however specific for HA. 

Older studies with radioactive precursors utilized in viuo have shown a half-life for skin hyaluronan of 2 to 5 days and for skin chondroitin sulfate of 7 to 14 days [86,87]. More recent work with cartilage indicates half-lives of approximately 7 and 50 days for large and small proteochondroitin sulfates, respectively [80]. Studies on the turnover of heparin, heparan sulfate, and dermatan sulfate indicate that degradation of the glycosaminoglycan components of these compounds in vivo occurs in mammalian systems. 

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