Phosphorus association with carbohydrates

Phosphorus is present in all the cells of the body. An adult body contains about 1 kg of phosphorus in the form of phosphates. About 75% of phosphorus is present in the form of calcium phosphate in bones and teeth while 10-20% of phosphorus is associated with carbohydrates, proteins and lipids in blood and muscles. Phosphorus is an essential constituent of ADP, ATP, phosphoproteins, phospho lipids, DNA, RNA, coenzyme NAD and NADP etc. present throughout the body. 

The spore coats make up a major portion of the spore, consisting mainly of protein with smaller amounts of complex carbohydrates and Bpid and possibly large amounts of phosphorus. The outer spore coat contains the alkali-resistant protein fraction and is associated with the presence of disulphide-rich bonds. The alkali-soluble fraction is... 

While the main thrust of this book remains centered on the phosphorus-containing lipids of mammalian cell membrane, it would be remiss on the author s part not to discuss the sphingogiycolipids. These phosphorus-free, sphingosine-containing lipids coexist with the phospholipids in cellular membranes. In place of a phosphocholine moiety (as in sphingomyelin), a carbohydrate is substituted. These complex lipids were found to be present in significant amounts in brain some 60 years ago, and their potential association with... 

In the field of animal experiment Chandler and his associates (1943, 1950) have shown that the establishment and development of tapeworms in rats show a positive correlation with the amount of carbohydrate in the diet. The type of carbohydrate provided made some difference to the growth of the worms Hymenolepis diminuta), starch being better than sugar, but on the whole there were more and bigger worms when the rats diets contained more and better carbohydrate. The same worker (Chandler, 1943) was unable to induce H. diminuta to establish itself in female rats whose diet was entirely free of all B complex vitamins. Lack of calcium and phosphorus has been shown to impair the growth and development of some bird helminths. Ascaridia galli failed to thrive in chicks on a low-calcium and -phosphorus diet, and their number and size increased when the chicks were fed a diet adequately supplied with these minerals (Gaafar and Ackert, 1953). 

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