Many human-dwelling bacteria acquire sialic acid for growth or surface display. We identified previously a sialic acid utilization operon in Tannerella forsythia that includes a novel outer membrane sialic acid-transport system (NanOU), where NanO (neuraminate outer membrane permease) is a putative TonB-dependent receptor and NanU (extracellular neuraminate uptake protein) is a predicted SusD f...

OBJECTIVE Serum sialic acid has recently gained interest as a possible cardiovascular risk factor as well as a potential tumour marker. The effect of pregnancy on serum sialic acid is unclear particularly in the post-partum period. DESIGN Longitudinal cohort. SETTING Teaching hospital antenatal clinic. POPULATION 29 pregnant women, 27 age matched non-pregnant women. METHODS Specific enz...

BACKGROUND It is known that tissue and serum sialic acid levels may be altered by malignant transformation. In this study, sialic acid levels were determined in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) and serum in two groups of patients with lung cancer and non-malignant diseases of the lung. METHODS Colorimetric methods were used for determination sialic acid in serum and in BAL samples. Flexible...

Biological membranes are complex systems which have attracted scientific interest for a long time and for various reasons. The sialic acid-liposome interactions at the molecular level depend on their hydro-lipophilic characteristics. The aim of the present study was to investigate the changes of conformation of the phospholipid (1,2-Diacyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) and sialic acid (2,8-(N-ac...

Introduction Sialic acid (N-acetylneuraminic acid, NeuAc, Neu5Ac) is an essential terminal sugar on the glycan moieties of many functional and structural human glycoproteins. A key intermediate in the biochemical process to form sialic acid is the monosaccharide, ManNAc, which is formed by the bifunctional enzyme UDPN-acetylglucosamine / Nacetylmannosamine epimerase kinase (GNE). ManNAc is an i...

The reaction of colloidal iron hydroxide (CIH) with acidic groups was applied for an ultrastructural study of the distribution of sulphuric acid monoesters and sialic acid in synaptic vesicles and external nerve ending membranes isolated from rat brain. At pH 1-7 CIH was precipitated as electron-dense granules with a uniform size of 6—7 nm specifically labelling the carboxyl group of sialic aci...

Sialylation of glycoproteins and glycolipids is catalyzed by sialyltransferases in the Golgi of mammalian cells, whereby sialic acid residues are added at the nonreducing ends of oligosaccharides. Because sialylated glycans play critical roles in a number of human physio-pathological processes, the past two decades have witnessed the development of modified sialic acid derivatives for a better ...

The sialic acid-binding lectin sialoadhesin (Sn) is a macrophage-restricted receptor for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). To investigate the importance of pSn sialic acid-binding activity for PRRSV infection, an R(116)-to-E mutation was introduced in the predicted sialic acid-binding domain of pSn, resulting in a mutant, pSn(RE), that could not bind sialic acids. PSn...

To clarify the significance of increased blood sialic acid in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, we investigated the relationship between serum sialic acid level and atherosclerotic risk factors such as serum uric acid, fasting blood glucose, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, atherogenic index, and white blood cell count. By simple regression analysis, the serum sialic acid level was ...

Pocket probing depth was correlated with the amount of salivary sialic acid in pilocarpine-stimulated saliva in ODU plaque-susceptible rats (ODUS/Odu) (r = 0.657, P < 0.01), but not with the content of serum sialic acid. There was no difference in the amount of serum sialic acid content between ODUS/Odu and plaque-resistant rats. These results suggest that the amount of sialic acid in the saliv...