Mucopolysaccharides, examination

Microbial communities associated with the surface mucopolysaccharide layer and tissue of healthy and yellow band diseased coral, Montastraea faveolata, were examined with GeoChip to determine the microbial functional structures and understand how changes in the microbial community may impact disease status (109). Diseased corals had increased numbers of cellulose degradation and nitrification genes, suggesting that these processes may provide a competitive advantage to coral pathogens. 

The application of chromatographic techniques to the analysis of mucopolysaccharides has provided a new impetus in the structural study of these substances and has opened up new fields of research. The behavior of glucosamine on ion-exchange resins was early examined by Freudenberg, Walch and Molter71 and the amino sugar has been separated... 

Histochemical methods have been used to follow changes in the acid mucopolysaccharides of human aortic tissue. Bertelsen and Jensen (1960) examined aortas from subjects up to 90 years old including some fetuses. The aortic tissue was found to contain both hyaluronic acid and sulfated mucopolysaccharides. The aortas of fetus and newborn contained 4iyalu-ronic acid as the major component. In aging the amount of sulfated polysaccharides increases up to about 50 years, especially in the media and intima, and after this time it is nearly constant. After 20 years of age, a periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) positive material is deposited in increasing amounts in the media and later in the intima. It was thought likely that the acid mucopolysaccharides are elaborated by the fibroblasts and the... 

The considerably increased (20-40-fold) excretion of acid mucopolysaccharides suggests that Marfan s syndrome also represents a defect in the metabolism of connective tissues (B4). The major mucopolysaccharides excreted were indistinguishable in their electrophoretic mobilities from hyaluronic acid and chondroitin 4- or 6-sulfate. Examination of the levels of mucoproteins and acid mucopolysaccharides in the serum of cases of Marfan s syndrome revealed an increase in the latter, while the former is decreased. Bacchus (B1) considers that this pattern might be of clinical and pathogenetic significance. 

Hyaluronic acid is the only heteroglycan whose biosynthesis has been examined in detail. Since aminodeoxy sugar units are present, the polysaccharide is an aminodeoxypolysaccharide or, as it is more commonly termed, a mucopolysaccharide. Hyaluronic acid is a copolymer of two sugar units which alternate in a linear chain, and hence it may also be classified as a diheteroglycan. ... 

In rheumatic disease, the main pathological manifestations appear in connective tissue, the chief constituents of which are collagen, elastin and mucopolysaccharides. The last, apart from hyaluronic acid and chondroitin of cornea, are all sulphate esters , the sulphate groups of which are in a dynamic state with a short biological half-life. The sulphate exchange is under enzymic control and can be decreased in vitro and in vivo by corticosteroids " . Bostrom and Mansson examined the effects of a number of salicylates on the incorporation of S into calf costal cartilage slices in vitro. 

There are few studies in which OPs and CMs have been examined for their effects on embryonic development. It has been postulated that alkylation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) coenzymes by OPs may be a major factor in the induction of carcinogenesis (Schoental. 1977). In another study, malath ton caused alterations in the levels of RNA, glycogen, sulfated mucopolysaccharides, and calcium in the developing tibiotarsus (Ho and Gib.son, 1972). 

Unlike mass spectroscopy, gel electrophoresis does not provide a quantitative value for the amount of given protein. However, it provides a low cost and relatively rapid method for the analysis of multiple proteins in a specimen, especially when implemented as a capillary electrophoresis system. Therefore, it has been used for the separation of enzymes (e.g., creatinine phosphokinase), mucopolysaccharides, plasma, serum, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, and other bodily fluids [13]. It is also used for quality control applications for the manufacturing of biological compounds to verify the purity or to examine the manufacturing yield [14]. 

Small porous silica particles in the 10 pm size range, such as LiChrospher (Merck), provide columns with much higher efficiency than CPG or Spherosil. The elution volumes of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), po1y(methacrylic acid) (PMA), and heparin - a sulfonated mucopolysaccharide - were examined as a function of sample concentration and ionic strength on high-resolution (30,000 plates m"l) LiChrospher columns (50). Ve for heparin was found to increase smoothly with I, approaching a constant value at 0.7 < I < 1. In 0.5 M NaAc Ve increased linearly with sample mass. Chromatograms for CMC and PMA in 0.5 M NaAc were also reported essentially without discussion. 

These findings have been corroborated by the study of Bruce Kumar fdio examined oral effectiveness (8 mg t.l.d.) over a ten day period in 5 normal subjects with uninfected sputum. Marked fragmentation of the acid mucopolysaccharide fibers and decreased sputum viscosity occurred by the end of the treatment period, followed five days later by return to control levels or above. 

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