Question

What are STRUCTURALLY unique about the following; Heparin? Keratan? Hyaluronate? Chondroitin-4-sulfate?

Answer 1

Heparan:-

1. Heparin or heparan sulfate are the therapeutic agents of the category of Glycosaminoglycans.
2. They are considered as good therapeutic agents because of their modulation in many biological processes and have been involved in several pathologies, like cardiovascular, cancer, inflammation, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases.
3. The above mentioned biological processes are believed to be dependent on the interaction of these heparin or heparan sulfate with the important proteins such as growth factors, cytokines, proteases, adhesion proteins, lipid binding proteins, etc.
4. These important proteins have a heparin binding domain in common and are called as heparin binding proteins.
5. The development of of these drugs are hindered because of the complex inherent structural diversity and michroheterogeneity mixed with the complex chemical synthesis of the drug limits the development of a detailed knowledge of the specific structural sites that makes is imporatnt to mediate their biological activity.
6. The HS domain consist of many protein binding sites as well as chain of heterogeneous mixture, makes the manipulation of HS residue tough and constraints it to only one or few interaction.

The above mentioned Glycosaminoglycan is a Heparin and it is one the glycosaminoglycan.

These compounds are structurally important because of the variablity in their motifs. The compounds are highly polar and they also attract water. The compounds works as a lubricant in the body and also as a shock absorber. The consistency in the reapeating disaccharide units is imporatnt for the strucatural variablity.

All of them are linear polysaccharide chains with complex heterogeneity. Keratan is present in corena and cartilages, in the cornea the keratan sulfate proteoglycan is present in an abundant quantity and structurally unique and tissue specific class of matrix molecules.