Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P Hovingh

Publications and source records attributed to P Hovingh.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

An unusual heparan sulfate isolated from lobsters (Homarus americanus).

An unusual heparan sulfate was isolated from lobsters (Homarus americanus). The polysaccharide has a composition and properties intermediate to heparin and the more common heparan sulfates. The sulfate and D-glucuronic acid content is high, while anticoagulant activity is low. The major repeating unit appears to consist of D-glucuronic acid and D-glucosamine N-O-disulfate. Some N-acetyl groups are present, the content of L-iduronic acid O-sulfate is low, and monosulfated or nonsulfated disaccharide-repeating units (very common in heparan sulfates) appear to be very rare. The data obtained again emphasize the heterogeneity of heparan sulfates and the need for adequate characterization when dealing with unusual or unexplored sources.

Animals↗

Characterization of heparan sulfate isolated from drug glomerular basement membranes.

Glycosaminoglycans were isolated from whole dog kidney and from purified glomerular basement membrane. Heparan sulfate was found to be the major component in the whole organ and the only glycosaminoglycan detected in significant amounts in the glomerular basement membranes. The heparan sulfate from basement membranes was characterized by isolation and analyses and found to be more homogeneous in charge content and molecular weight than the polymer from the whole kidney and to resemble one of the subfractions. It has a lower total sulfate and N-sulfate content than the same polysaccharide isolated from rat basement membranes. The findings suggest that there are several subgroups of heparan sulfate polyanions in the kidney and that the heparan sulfate associated with glomerular basement membranes in line with its specific function may be different from other kidney heparan sulfates.

Animals↗

Specificity of flavobacterial glycuronidases acting on disaccharides derived from glycosaminoglycans.

The specificity of the unusual flavobacterial glycuronidases that act on disaccharides containing delta4,5-unsaturated uronic acids was reinvestigated. The results show that the enzyme that hydrolyses the uronidic bond in disaccharides from hyaluronic acid and the chondroitin sulphates appears to be mainly specific for beta-D-(1 leads to 3)-derived linkages. The enzyme that hydrolyses the uronidic bond in a variety of disaccharides obtained from heparan sulphate and heparin appears to be specific for beta-D-(1 leads to 4)- and alpha-L-(1 leads to 4)- derived linkages. Thus the glycuronidases seem to be specific for linkage position rather than anomeric configuration, as had been thought previously. In addition, the data confirm other evidence that the major glucuronidic linkages in heparan sulphate and heparin have the beta-D-configuration, and the iduronidic linkages the alpha-L-configuration.

Chondroitin Sulfates↗

Structural studies of heparitin sulfates.

Heparitin sulfate fractions with a large range in sulfate content were subjected to degradation by Flavobacterium heparinase and by nitrous acid. The products obtained were fractionated by chromatography, characterized, and used to arrive at tentative structures for these complex polysaccharides. The heparitin sulfate chains examined appear to be composed of: 1. uninterrupted blocks of N-acetylglucosamine containing disaccharides; 2. larger blocks with a molecular weight range of 5000 to 6000 which include the N-acetyl block but do not contain heparinase sensitive linkages; 3. segments containing mainly areas where N-acetyl, N-sulfate and some disulfated units alternate in the chain. The size and arrangement of these polymer segments seem to vary with the sulfate content of a particular heparitin sulfate. For instance, the polysaccharides with the highest degree of sulfation do not appear to contain N-acetyl blocks of significant size.

Acetates↗

Divergent regulation of proteoglycan and glycosaminoglycan free chain expression in human keratinocytes and melanocytes.

Keratinocytes and melanocytes, which together form units of structure and function within human epidermis, are known to differ in expression of autocrine growth factors, particularly those with heparin binding affinity. Because such cytokines could be regulated by the endogenous heparinlike glycosaminoglycan, heparan sulfate, proteoglycan synthesis was compared between human keratinocytes and melanocytes cultured from a common donor. Following steady-state isotopic labeling under conditions of active growth (low density cultures) and growth inhibition (high density cultures), the sulfated polymers were isolated from conditioned media and cell extracts. We found that keratinocytes produced substantially more sulfated glycosaminoglycans than did the melanocytes. There was no evidence for hyaluronic acid synthesis by the melanocytes. The majority of [35S]-sulfate labeling was in the heparan sulfates of the keratinocytes and in the chondroitin sulfates of the melanocytes. During the transition from active growth to growth inhibition, there was increased heparan sulfate proteoglycan and free chain synthesis by keratinocytes but not by melanocytes, and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan production declined in both cell lineages. The differences may reflect divergent evolution as each cell type came to exploit those complex polysaccharides in different ways to regulate molecular pathways of growth and differentiation. The coupling of growth inhibition with augmented synthesis of heparan sulfates observed for the keratinocytes suggests a regulatory role in growth factor signaling in that cell type.

Cell Division↗