Abstract
Over the last twenty years chondroitin sulfate (CS) has become a focus of interest of neuroscience due to its indubitable role in shaping axonal growth, synaptic plasticity and glial scar forming. Various patterns of sulfation give rise to various CS molecules with different properties that are capable of interactions with a plethora of molecules, including growth factors, receptors and guidance molecules. The involvement of CS chains has been implicated in visual critical period regulation, memory formation, spinal cord regeneration. As part of proteoglycan molecules, they are widely expressed in the central nervous system, however, little is known about the enzymatic machinery responsible for CS synthesis and degradation. In this review we attempt to extract and collect the available information concerning the expression and function of enzymes of CS metabolism in the brain.
Highlights
The extracellular matrix (ECM) of tissues is a non‐cellular structure, fundamentally composed of water, proteins and polysaccharides, occupying the space between cells, where the cells secrete these mol‐ ecules, determining the composition and proper‐ ties of ECM
Apart from water, which is the main component of most tissues, brain ECM contains large amounts of hyaluronic acid (HA), a long linear glycosaminoglycan composed of a repeating disaccha‐ ride unit of N‐acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) and glucu‐ ronic acid (GlcA) (Csoka and Stern, 2013)
While chondroitin normally is not expressed in brain, it is conceivable that the chondroitin found in the triple knockout tissues may be derived from inter‐ mediates of chondroitin sulfate (CS) metabolism that have already been de‐ sulfated by sulfatases (Gushulak et al, 2012)
Summary
Over the last twenty years chondroitin sulfate (CS) has become a focus of interest of neuroscience due to its indubitable role in shaping axonal growth, synaptic plasticity and glial scar forming. The extracellular matrix (ECM) of tissues is a non‐cellular structure, fundamentally composed of water, proteins and polysaccharides, occupying the space between cells, where the cells secrete these mol‐ ecules, determining the composition and proper‐ ties of ECM. It occupies the intercellular space to which cells secrete various molecules, determining the composition and properties of ECM. It is an important constituent of tissue microenvi‐ ronment, providing mechanical scaffold and transporting ions and molecules, such as growth factors, chemokines and signaling molecules, affecting cell survival, migration and proliferation and regulat‐ ing tissue regeneration. The role of ECM molecules has been demonstrated in brain development, critical period plasticity, adult neu‐. The mechanisms regulating syn‐ thesis and modification of brain ECM, as well as the way it regulates brain functioning, are far from understood
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