Mucopolysaccharides complexes

Nasal mucus. The nasal mucus protects the body against airborne substances. Nasal mucus consists of mucopolysaccharides complexed with sialic acid, sloughed epithelial cells, bacteria, water (95 percent), glycoproteins and lipids (0.5 to 5 percent), mineral salts (0.5 to 1 percent), and free proteins (albumin, immunoglobulins, lysozyme, interferon, lactoferin, etc., 1 percent).13 45 111 112 The surface pH of the nasal mucosa is 5.5 to 6.5.113... 

Hemoglobin, lysozyme, insulin, collagen 19-s-o(-globulins 3-5-a2-globulins Protein / mucopolysaccharide complexes... 

About 10% of the mass of an egg is the shell, the yolk is about 30%, and the remaining 60% is the white (Fig. 2.39). The shell is mostly made up of minerals calcium carbonate, or more precisely, calcite dominates with small amounts of magnesium carbonate and various phosphates. The shell also contains about 3.3% proteins in a form called mucopolysaccharide complex, which is a network of globular and fibrous protein bits which hosts a large number of calcite crystals (about... 

The shell consists of calcite crystals embedded in an organic matrix or framework of interwoven protein fibers and spherical masses (protein-mucopolysaccharide complex) in a proportion of 50 1. There are also small amounts of magnesium carbonate and phosphates. 

Srinivasan SR, Radhakrishnamurthy B, Pargaonkar PS, Berenson GS and Dolan P. Lipoprotein-acid mucopolysaccharide complexes of human atherosclerotic lesions. Biochim Bio-phys Acta 388 58-70, 1975. 

Proteoglycans Glycosaminoglycans (mucopolysaccharides) bound to protein chains in covalent complexes. Proteoglycans are present in the extracellular matrix of connective tissue. 

Mucopolysaccharides are some of the most common structural carbohydrates in cestodes, although little is known of their biochemistry or function. They are heteropolymers and contain amino sugars (e.g. glucosamine, galactosamine) and uronic (glucuronic, galacturonic) acids. Often, mucopolysaccharides are complexed with proteins to form mucoproteins or glycoproteins, which, as discussed in Chapter 2, are major components of... 

The presence of a subshell membrane has been noted by a number of workers (439, 440, 541), but it is often difficult to see and its embryonic origin is unknown. In H. diminuta, it is probably represented by the cytoplasmic layer (zone I see below). This membrane appears to be relatively impermeable to many substances and is unaffected by proteases, carbohydrases or lipases. It appears to be a mucopolysaccharide-protein complex and may be important in preventing premature hatching, as well as providing back up protection for the egg shell against a hostile external environment. 

Mucopolysaccharides are generally found to have a small but significant proportion of associated protein material. The results of structural determinations in this field have been reviewed recently.98 In most instances, rather drastic methods, including the use of alkali, are needed to remove the contaminating protein and so obtain a soluble product. Degradation may possibly accompany such isolation procedures, and dissociation of the protein-polysaccharide complex may also completely alter the physical properties of the product. 

In order to provide access here to information about other microbial polysaccharides, there follows a short review of reviews. The Chemical Nature of Bacterial Antigens is a source of information on the earlier work, and this was followed by two reviews - in the present Series in one of these, the bacterial homopolysaccharides were discussed and some of the more complex products were mentioned. A wide review of mucopolysaccharides and mucoproteins included references to many bacterial polysaccharides, and, subsequently, an account of the specific polysaccharides of the Gram-positive Pneumococcus, and of dextrans, levans, and products of Gram-negative forms appeared. There followed a comprehensive review of pneumococcal polysaccharides, and an account restricted to products of Mycobacterium tuberculosis appeared in 1948. A broad coverage was provided in 1950, in this case the products of pathogenic species being dealt with more particularly this work encompassed the basis of the more... 

Microbially produced exopolysaccharides have been directly implicated in weathering of silicates and aluminosilicates through either complexation of cationic constituents of these minerals or, in the case of add mucopolysaccharides, through acidolysis (Barker Banfield, 1996). In some instances, however, exopolysaccharides may inhibit weathering, as in the case of plagi-oclase by gluconate at circumneutral pH (Welch Vandevivere, 1995). 

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