Trypsin treatment of human erythrocytes releases a soluble glycopeptide which binds to phytohemagglutinin and abolishes the erythroagglutinating and lymphocyte-stimulating properties of this molecule. The glycopeptide has been purified by alkaline borohydride treatment, proteolytic digestion, gel filtration, and DEAE-cellulose chromatography. The most highly purified glycopeptide has a molecula...

Praziquantel (PZQ) is effective against all the evolutive phases of Schistosoma mansoni. Infected Biomphalaria glabrata snails have their cercarial shedding interrupted when exposed to PZQ. Using primary in vitro transformed sporocysts, labeled with the probe Hoechst 33258 (indicator of membrane integrity), and lectin of Glycine max (specific for carbohydrate of N-acetylgalactosamine membrane),...

The slime-forming bacterium Methylobacterium sp. was isolated from a Finnish paper machine and its exopolysaccharide (EPS) was produced on laboratory scale. Sugar compositional analysis revealed a 100% galactan (EPS). However, FT-IR showed a very strong peak at 1611 cm(-1) showing the presence of pyruvate. Analysis of the pyruvate content revealed that, based on the sugar composition, the EPS c...

BACKGROUND Henoch-Schönlein purpura is a common vasculitis of childhood affecting the skin, joints, gastrointestinal tract, and kidney. The mesangial deposition of IgA1 is the most critical factor for the prognosis of patients with this disease. The aberrant glycosylation of the IgA1 subclass with the absence of terminally located galactose and presence of only alpha-N-acetylgalactosamine in O-...

Both the Entamoeba histolytica lectin, a virulence factor for the causative agent of amebiasis, and the mammalian hepatic lectin bind to N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) and galactose (Gal) nonreducing termini on oligosaccharides, with preference for GalNAc. Polyvalent GalNAc-derivatized neoglycoproteins have >1000-fold enhanced binding affinity for both lectins (Adler,P., Wood,S.J., Lee,Y.C., Le...

A metabolic recycling of N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc), liberated from exogenous GM2 ganglioside [nomenclature of Svennerholm (1964) J. Lipid Res. 5, 145-155; IUPAC-IUB recommendations (1977) Lipids 12, 455-468], is demonstrated in rat liver. After the injection of a GM2 ganglioside isotopically radiolabelled on the terminal GalNAc residue ([GalNAc-3H]GM2), the liver retained a large amount of...