Chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans in the extracellular matrix restrict plasticity in the adult central nervous system and their digestion with chondroitinase reactivates plasticity. However the structures in the extracellular matrix that restrict plasticity are unknown. There are many changes in the extracellular matrix as critical periods for plasticity close, including changes in chondroitin...

Five distinct glycosaminoglycan fractions have been isolated from human brain of various age groups, by employing an improved fractionation procedure. Analysis of these fractions showed that human brain contains hyaluronic acid, chondroitin-4sulphate, chondroitin-6-sulphate, dermatan sulphate, heparan sulphate and two unidentified low sulphated fractions. The pattern of variation of these compo...

Chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs) are up-regulated in the central nervous system after injury, specifically around the lesion site where the glial scar forms. This structure contains astrocytes, oligodendrocyte precursor cells, microglia and meningeal cells, and forms an inhibitory substrate for axon re-growth. CSPGs have been shown to be closely involved in this neuronal growth inhibi...

1. Urinary glycosaminoglycans were recovered from the papain digest of polyanions precipitated sequentially by cetylpyridinium chloride and sodium acetate-saturated ethanol. Those from the early morning urine of 48 stone formers and 43 normal control subjects measured 11 and 16 micrograms of uronic acid/ml of urine, respectively. 2. Preparative agarose gel electrophoresis of the recovered glyco...

Revell & Muir (1972) have studied the metabolism of 35S-labelled proteoglycan from porcine cartilage after injection into guinea pigs. They concluded that the polymeric material excreted in the urine was the result of proteolytic degradation of the injected proteoglycan to single chains of chondroitin sulphate. These results are particularly interesting with respect to the site(s) and mechanism...

The distribution of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in different functional regions (weight-bearing and nonweight-bearing portions) of the human hip joint cartilage was studied. The results obtained were as follows: (1) Weight-bearing cartilage contains larger amounts of GAGs than nonweight-bearing, cartilage. (2) Weight-bearing cartilage contains keratan sulphate in higher ratio to chondroitin sulph...

We have evaluated the possible role of proteoglycans in the uptake of spermine by human lung fibroblasts. Exogenous glycosaminoglycans behaved as competitive inhibitors of spermine uptake, the most efficient being heparan sulphate (Ki=0.16+/-0.04 microM). Treatment of fibroblasts with either heparan sulphate lyase, p-nitrophenyl-O-beta-D-xylopyranoside or chlorate reduced spermine uptake consid...

Mouse mastocytoma cells grown in suspension culture produce chondroitin 4-sulphate. A Golgi-apparatus-enriched fraction from these cells was prepared and examined for chondroitin-synthesizing activity. When Golgi-apparatus-enriched fractions were incubated with UDP-[14C]glucuronic acid and UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine, they demonstrated a greater than 13-fold increase in chondroitin-synthesizing a...

A chondroitinase that degrades only chondroitin sulphate B was isolated from Flavobacterium heparinum, and separated from a constitutive chondroitinase AC also present in extracts of F. heparinum. The enzyme acts only on chondroitin sulphate B, producing oligo- and tetra-saccharides, plus an unsaturated 4-sulphated disaccharide (deltaDi-4S). The oligosaccharide fraction (mol. wt. 3000) is susce...

BACKGROUND Raw data from 3 similar clinical trials were analyzed in this individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to define any possible efficacy of intravesical 2% chondroitin sulphate in IC/BPS. METHODS We pooled IPD from an open label and 2 small randomized placebo controlled trials assessing chondroitin sulphate in IC/BPS (similar inclusion/exclusion criteria, treatment, outcome as...