41 research outputs found
Distribution of acidic glycosaminoglycans, lipids and water in normal human cerebral arteries at various ages.
Accumulation of native and methylated low density lipoproteins by healing rabbit arterial wall.
Detection and characterization of the heterozygote state for lipoprotein lipase deficiency.
Platelet-derived growth factor and transforming growth factor-beta 1 differentially affect the synthesis of biglycan and decorin by monkey arterial smooth muscle cells.
Lipid composition of rabbit aortic wall following removal of endothelium by balloon catheter.
Biological Functions of Iduronic Acid in Chondroitin/Dermatan Sulfate.
The presence of iduronic acid in chondroitin/dermatan sulfate changes the properties of the polysaccharides, as it generates a more flexible chain with increased binding potentials. Iduronic acid in chondroitin/dermatan sulfate influences multiple cellular properties such as migration, proliferation, differentiation, angiogenesis and regulation of cytokine/growth factor activities. During pathological conditions such as wound healing, inflammation and cancer iduronic acid has diverse regulatory functions. Iduronic acid is formed by the two epimerases DS-epimerase 1 and DS-epimerase 2 which have different tissue distribution and properties. The role of IdoA in chondroitin/dermatan sulfate is underlined by the vast changes of connective tissue features in patients with a new type of Ehler-Danlos syndrome, adducted thumb-clubfoot syndrome. Future direction of research is to understand the roles of the two epimerases and their interplay with sulfotransferases involved in CS/DS biosynthesis. Further, a better definition of chondroitin/dermatan sulfate functions using different knock-out models is needed. In this review, we focus on the two enzymes responsible for iduronic acid formation and the role of iduronic acid in health and disease. © 2013 The Authors Journal compilation © 2013 FEBS