Mucopolysaccharides, catabolism

Carbohydrates in algae and plants are often classified based on methodological discrimination. The structural carbohydrates are not water-soluble, whereas the other types of carbohydrates are water-soluble and typically extracted by hot water. In Phaeocystis five different pools of carbohydrates can be distinguished. Like all algal and plant cells, both solitary and colonial cells produce (1) structural carbohydrates, polysaccharides that are mainly part of the cell wall, (2) mono- and oligosaccharides, which are present as intermediates in the synthesis and catabolism of cell components, and (3) intracellular storage glucan. Colonial cells of Phaeocystis excrete (4) mucopolysaccharides, heteropolysaccharides that... 

Catabolism of Mucopolysaccharides, Plant Gums, and Maillard Products by Human Colonic Bacteroides... 

Because of the variety of polysaccharides which can be fermented by some Bacteroides species, it is difficult to predict with certainty which polysaccharides in the complex mixture of dietary and host-produced carbohydrates that enter the colon will be degraded most rapidly and most extensively. Further information about how these organisms make choices between different polysaccharides i vitro may help to clarify this issue. However, nutritionists who are interested in catabolism of dietary fiber components iji vivo should be aware that the bacteria may prefer other sources of carbohydrate, such as mucopolysaccharides from host secretions or even Maillard products, to the dietary polysaccharide under study, and that this preference may influence catabolism of a particular polysaccharide in ways which we cannot at present predict. Effects of this sort may be responsible for some of the individual-to-individual variation which is encountered in nutritional studies of dietary fiber utilization. 

Lj sosomes Cooxidation by per-oxidizing lipid Breaking of membrane and release of hydrolytic enzymes Some of the catabolic reactions of muscular dystrophy involving protein, nucleic acid, and mucopolysaccharide hydrolysis... 

This chapter deals with the inborn errors of catabolism (degradation) of mucopolysaccharides (or the new term glycosaminoglycans). The mucopolysaccharidoses are a group of heritable disorders of man that are characterized by acciunulation of glycosaminoglycans in the lysosomes of all cells of the body (except red blood cells) and increased excretion in the urine. 

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