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Shear Stress, Mechanosensors, and Atherosclerosis
Published in Juhyun Lee, Sharon Gerecht, Hanjoong Jo, Tzung Hsiai, Modern Mechanobiology, 2021
Glycocalyx is an important microstructure existing in the apical surface of ECs. This microstructure serves as a barrier as well as a critical regulator in vascular development, mechanotransduction, vascular permeability, coagulation and leukocyte adhesion, and vascular homeostasis [78, 79]. It is considered as the first line of defense and consists of multiple negatively charged glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans, including chondroitin sulfate, syndecans, heparan sulfate, and glypican-1 [80–83]. The disruption of glycocalyx structure results in increased vascular inflammation, edema, and vascular permeability [84]. It has been recently demonstrated that glycocalyx components, such as glypican-1, heparan sulfate, syndecan-1, and syndecan-4, are critical for flow-induced EC alignment to shear flow direction and NO production [80, 81]. Moreover, key glycocalyx protein, heparan sulfate proteoglycans, redistribute after shear, suggesting that the presence of glycocalyx could serve as a cell-adaptive mechanism in response to shear [83]. In contrast, the removal of the glycocalyx by heparinase III significantly impaired ECs to align to flow direction [83].
Monolayers and Multilayers
Published in Victor M. Starov, Nanoscience, 2010
Hernán Ritacco, Iván López-Montero, Francisco Monroy, Francisco Ortega, Ramón G. Rubio
The plasmatic membrane of an animal cell is made of a complex mixture (50% proteins, 40% lipids, and 10% glucids by weight). The membrane is organized into three different layers: the cytoskeleton at the inner, the outer glycocalyx, and the lipid bilayer between them. Most membrane proteins are those forming the cytoskeleton, which is a complex, highly dynamic, network made of protein fibers linked at the inner leaflet of the lipid bilayer. The cytoskeleton enables the cell to maintain or change its shape, also supporting essential cell functions involving the motility of internal organelles and of the cell as a whole. The glycocalyx is the external envelope of the cell, mainly formed by glycolipids and glycoproteins, which establishes a protective layer playing a crucial role in essential functions related to adhesion, cell recognition, and trafficking. The bilayer is made of a complex lipid selfassembly that is structurally stable but fluid enough to enable functional transmembrane proteins to diffuse along. The lipid bilayer is considered to be the principal structural block of the membrane because despite being a container for cytoplasm elements, it is flexible and fluid enough to support other functional elements, and to prevent fractures during changes in the cell shape.
Positional information in the extracellular matrix
Published in David M. Gardiner, Regenerative Engineering and Developmental Biology, 2017
Anne Q. Phan, Md. Ferdous Anower-E-Khuda
The fundamental components of ECM are glycans and proteins. Cells are coated in a dense layer of glycans, also known as the glycocalyx (Figure 12.1), that dominates the biological characteristics of the cell membrane and controls the interface of a cell with its environment. The glycocalyx serves as a platform for morphogen and growth factor binding. All cell–cell interactions are either cell–matrix–cell or cell–matrix communications.
Kode Technology – a universal cell surface glycan modification technology
Published in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2019
Stephen M. Henry, Nicolai V. Bovin
Most of these pericellular matrix components are proteoglycans, glycoproteins and glycolipids and collectively this highly glycosylated layer is termed as the glycocalyx (Mulivor and Lipowsky 2002; Ebong et al. 2011; Tarbell and Cancel 2016; Chevalier et al. 2017). Most animal epithelial cells and prokaroyte cells like bacteria have a glycocalyx and its relative size varies considerably. Some endothelial cells having a very large glycocalyx (Ebong et al. 2011) (Figure 1A) and others such as red blood cells have a much smaller glycocalyx of around ∼10–20 nm (Figure 1B) (Voet and Voet 2011; Chevalier et al. 2017). Regardless of size, the glycocalyx is a critical component to interfacing of the cell with its environment, and many important blood group antigens are present in the glycocalyx (e.g. ABO blood group). Additionally, even non-glycocalyx components at the cell surface are still influenced by glycocalyx, as anything interacting, like antibodies and ligands, must navigate their way through this coat to interact with the cell surface. The glycocalyx of a cell is involved in many different specific and non-specific biological interactions (Huang et al. 2014) and the ability to be able modify this external coat with specific glycans (or other moieties), and thereby influence its interactions with the environment, is useful to understanding the role of glycobiology.