title: Chondroitin/dermatan sulfate in the central nervous system.
abstract: In the central nervous system (CNS) chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, as one of the major barrier-forming molecules, influence cell migration patterns and axon pathfinding. By contrast, chondroitin sulfate side chains often form hybrid chains with dermatan sulfate and serve as a neural stem cell marker and neurogenic/neuritogenic molecules involved in neural stem cell proliferation. Hybrid chondroitin/dermatan sulfate chains are also involved in formation of the neural network by capturing and presenting heparin-binding growth factors like basic fibroblast growth factor, pleiotrophin, and hepatocyte growth factor to stem cells or neuronal cells. Research tools for structural glycobiology are emerging to perform a high-throughput screening of glycosaminoglycans for the binding to ligands, to decipher sulfation patterns of rare functional oligosaccharide sequences and to build structural models for the shape of such sulfated oligosaccharides.
authors.affiliation: Frontier Research Center for Post-Genomic Science and Technology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Life Science, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 001-0021, Japan. k-sugar@sci.hokudai.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugahara
authors.forename: Tadahisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mikami
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000172:deficiency / Q000502:physiology; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D003871:Dermatan Sulfate / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D004187:Disaccharides / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008959:Models, Neurological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans; D004187:Disaccharides; C032649:dermatan sulfate proteoglycan; D003871:Dermatan Sulfate; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates