Cobra venom factor (CVF), a nontoxic, complementactivating glycoprotein in cobra venom, is a functional analog of mammalian complement component C3b. The carbohydrate moiety of CVF consists exclusively of N-linked oligosaccharides with terminal α1-3-linked galactosyl residues, which are antigenic in human. CVF has potential for several medical applications, including targeted cell killing and c...

The expression of cell surface oligosaccharides is associated with various biological phenomena. To clarify the relationship between lectin binding and the survival of patients with Burkitt's lymphoma, tumor samples from nine patients with Burkitt's lymphoma were analyzed by lectin histochemistry. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that survival is significantly shorter for patients with negative rea...

The O-linked sugar chains of the human leukocyte cell surface glycoprotein CD45 were released as tritium-labeled oligosaccharides by beta-elimination in the presence of NaB3H4. Mono Q column chromatography revealed that they comprise neutral (64%) and acidic (36%) oligosaccharides, the latter of which were converted to neutral ones by Arthrobacter ureafaciens sialidase treatment. Structural stu...

Treatment of pea (Pisum sativum L.) hypocotyl segments with indole-3-butyric acid, which promotes segment elongation, increased the solubilization of both xyloglucan and cello-oligosaccharides in the apoplast of auxin-treated pea stems. The cello-oligosaccharides were isolated from the apoplastic solution with a charcoal/Celite column and were identified as cellobiose, cellotriose, and cellotet...

Constipation is a common problem and its prevalence increases with age. Severe constipation requires treatment with laxatives, but nutritional therapy, especially increased dietary fibre intake, is recommended primarily for the prevention and treatment of mild constipation. One alternative may be the use of oligosaccharides, which act as soluble fibre and have a bifidogenic effect. Galacto-olig...

Cortical granule lectin (CGL) is released by the egg of the South African toad Xenopus laevis upon fertilization. The lectin binds to oligosaccharides in the extracellular matrix of the egg to form a physical block to prevent additional sperm penetration or polyspermy. To identify the oligosaccharides that bind to CGL, the lectin was immobilized on the surface of a matrix-assisted laser desorpt...

The structures of the entire population of sialylated asparagine-linked oligosaccharides present on bovine fetuin were elucidated. Asparagine-linked oligosaccharides were released from fetuin with N-glycanase, radiolabeled by reduction with NaB[3H]4, and fractionated by anion-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ion-suppression amine adsorption HPLC, and concanavalin A affini...

Oligosaccharides represent a significant fraction of breast milk, reaching up to 20 g/l in early milk. Human milk oligosaccharides comprise close to 200 structures, which are not absorbed by the intestinal tissue and have no nutritional value for the breastfed infant. Early studies conducted around 1930 already attributed a prebiotic activity to milk oligosaccharides by showing their stimulator...

We investigated whether agaro-oligosaccharides have any immunological effects on RAW264.7 mouse macrophages and human monocytes in vitro. We demonstrate that agaro-oligosaccharides suppressed the elevated levels of nitric oxide, prostaglandin E(2), and such pro-inflammatory cytokines as tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1beta and interleukin-6 in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated monocytes a...

A number of different low molecular weight and volatile compounds have been tested and compared as matrices in 252Cf plasma-desorption mass spectrometry (PDMS) measurements of oligosaccharides. Some heteroaromatic amines (Zaminothiazole and 3-aminopyridine), hydroxyanthraquinones (alizarin and quinalizarin) and phthaleins (fluorescein) proved to be especially suited to enhancing the quasimolecu...