A polysaccharide isolated from the body wall of the sea cucumber Ludwigothurea grisea has a backbone like that of mammalian chondroitin sulfate: [4-beta-D-GlcA-1-->3-beta-D-GalNAc-1]n but substituted at the 3-position of the beta--glucuronic acid residues with sulfated alpha--fucopyranosyl branches (Vieira, R. P., Mulloy, B., and Mourão, P. A. S. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 13530-13536). Mild acid hydrolysis removes the sulfated alpha--fucose branches, and cleaved residues have been characterized by 1H NMR spectroscopy; the most abundant species is fucose 4-O-monosulfate, but 2,4- and 3, 4-di-O-sulfated residues are also present. Degradation of the remaining polysaccharide with chondroitin ABC lyase shows that the sulfated alpha-L-fucose residues released by mild acid hydrolysis are concentrated toward the non-reducing end of the polysaccharide chains; enzyme-resistant polysaccharide material includes the reducing terminal and carries acid-resistant -fucose substitution. The sulfated alpha-L-fucose branches confer anticoagulant activity on the polysaccharide. The specific activity of fucosylated chondroitin sulfate in the activated partial thromboplastin time assay is greater than that of a linear homopolymeric alpha-L-fucan with about the same level of sulfation; this activity is lost on defucosylation or desulfation but not on carboxyl-reduction of the polymer. Assays with purified reagents show that the fucosylated chondroitin sulfate can potentiate the thrombin inhibition activity of both antithrombin and heparin cofactor II.
CITATION STYLE
Mourão, P. A. S., Pereira, M. S., Pavão, M. S. G., Mulloy, B., Tollefsen, D. M., Mowinckel, M.-C., & Abildgaard, U. (1996). Structure and Anticoagulant Activity of a Fucosylated Chondroitin Sulfate from Echinoderm. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 271(39), 23973–23984. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.271.39.23973
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.