Membranes glycosaminoglycans

FIGURE 9.32 Proteoglycans serve a variety of functions on the cytoplasmic and extracellular surfaces of the plasma membrane. Many of these functions appear to involve the binding of specific proteins to the glycosaminoglycan groups. 

It is likely that the predominantly positively charged amino acids of TAT and other CPPs will interact with anionic components on the surface of the cell membrane (85). This idea is supported by the observation that cell association with CPP liposomes in glycosaminoglycan-deficient Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells is greatly reduced and is competitively inhibited by the presence of heparin (88,93). Furthermore, the removal of the heparan sulfate chains by the action of glycosaminoglycan lyase also suppressed the transduction of the TAT protein (94). 

Hematopoiesis, the process of generating mature blood cells, is mainly located in the red bone marrow, predominantly in the sternum, femur and pelvic bones [1]. In the marrow the hematopoietic cells are embedded in stromal tissue. This consists of different cell types (e.g., fibroblasts, endothehal cells, adipocytes, macrophages) that provide soluble and membrane-bound growth factors and produce an extracellular matrix consisting of collagen, laminin, fibronectin, and glycosaminoglycans [2, 3]. The interactions between hematopoietic cells, stromal cells and extracellular matrix are indicated in Fig. 1 [4,5]. 

Observations by several workers suggest that at least some of the ruthenium red staining material found in the plasma membranes of cells is heparan sulfate-containing proteoglycan. Cells in culture appear to synthesize three discreet pools of glycosaminoglycans ... 

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