Enzymes capable of degrading dextran, the polymer of glucose produced from sucrose by the action of Leuconostoc mesenteroides and related organisms, are potentially valuable for fundamental research as well as for practical application. Although the a-i ,6-glucopyranosidic linkage is present to the extent of 95 per cent or more in some easily obtainable dextrans, the only other known occurrence...

In this study we report the effects of sulfated polysaccharides on the ecto-ATPase activity of intact cells of Leishmania tropica. Increasing concentrations of dextran sulfate stimulated progressively the ecto-ATPase activity, but did not modify other ecto-enzymes present on the surface of this parasite, such as 5'nucleotidase, 3'nucleotidase and a membrane-bound acid phosphatase activity. This...

BACKGROUND Surfactant dysfunction due to inhibition is involved in the pathophysiology of meconium aspiration syndrome. Dextran addition has been shown to reverse exogenous surfactant inactivation by meconium, but the precise mechanisms and the morphological correlate of this effect are yet unknown. Morphological surfactant analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and stereology allow...

Persistent effects of a short course of intra-articular dextran sulphate, dextrans, or chondroitin sulphate were examined in rabbit knees. Only dextran sulphate produced gross arthritis, associated with high synovial acid phosphatase and beta-glucuronidase activities. Synovial degradative capacity in synovium-cartilage cocultures was increased 2-fold by dextran sulphate and 1.5-fold by chondroi...

Acute hypertension disrupts the blood-brain barrier and may neutralize the negative charge on cerebral endothelium. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of molecular charge on permeability of the blood-brain barrier during acute hypertension. Intravital fluorescent microscopy and fluorescein-labeled dextrans were used to evaluate disruption of the blood-brain barrier during acute...

Previous studies have shown that functional capillary density (FCD) is substantially reduced by erythrocyte aggregation. However, only supranormal levels of aggregability were studied. To investigate the effect of erythrocyte aggregability at the level seen in healthy humans, the FCD of selected capillary fields in rat spinotrapezius muscle was determined with high-speed video microscopy under ...

The kinetics of dextranase activity were studied using dextran-containing samples of mixed juice taken from mills in Puerto Rico and Jamaica. Mean values of the initial enzyme velocity (V) were 0,063 and 0,173 mg dextran hydrolysed/min/unit enzyme in Puerto Rico and Jamaica respectively. Mean substrate concentrations, expressed as dextran % w/v juice determined by the haze analysis technique, w...

Klevas (1) determined dextran in blood by the Hagedorn-Jensen (2) copper reduction method, applied to filtrate prepared by the Somogyi technique (3), after acid hydrolysis of the filtrate for 6 hours. Hint and Thorsen (4) estimated dextran in blood by alkalinizing trichloroacetic acid filtrate, treating the filtrate with standard copper solution, and determining residual copper after 4 hours sh...

Dextran a polymer of glucose is produced by different microorganisms like Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus sps, Streptococcus mutants, Weissella confusa etc. It has a wide range of applications in the food, pharmaceuticals and other industries. It also has significant role in green synthesis of silver nanoparticles. In the present study an efficient low molecular dextran produced by an ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cerebral microemboli signals (MES) are associated with increased risk of acute stroke syndromes. We compared the effects on cerebral microemboli after carotid endarterectomy of tirofiban with dextran-40. METHODS We used transcranial Doppler ultrasound to study transient MES acutely after carotid endarterectomy between August 2000 and December 2010 in 128 subjects refrac...