Heparan sulfates and heparins: similar compounds performing the same functions in vertebrates and invertebrates?

• Autor(a) principal: Nader, Helena Bonciani [UNIFESP]
• Data de Publicação: 1999
• Outros Autores: Chavante, Suely Ferreira [UNIFESP], Santos, Elizeu Antunes dos, Oliveira, Fernanda Wanderley, Paiva, José Fernandes de [UNIFESP], Jerônimo, Selma Maria Bezerra, Medeiros, Guilherme Fulgencio de [UNIFESP], Abreu, Luiz Roberto Diz de [UNIFESP], Leite, Edda Lisboa, Sousa-Filho, João Felipe de, Castro, Rodrigo de Aquino [UNIFESP], Toma, Leny [UNIFESP], Tersariol, Ivarne Luis dos Santos [UNIFESP], Porcionatto, Marimélia Aparecida [UNIFESP], Dietrich, Carl Peter [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/775; http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-879X1999000500005
• topic: heparin - occurrence and function; heparan sulfate - occurrence and function; heparin - invertebrates; heparan sulfate - invertebrates; heparin and heparan sulfate - structure

The distribution and structure of heparan sulfate and heparin are briefly reviewed. Heparan sulfate is a ubiquitous compound of animal cells whose structure has been maintained throughout evolution, showing an enormous variability regarding the relative amounts of its disaccharide units. Heparin, on the other hand, is present only in a few tissues and species of the animal kingdom and in the form of granules inside organelles in the cytoplasm of special cells. Thus, the distribution as well as the main structural features of the molecule, including its main disaccharide unit, have been maintained through evolution. These and other studies led to the proposal that heparan sulfate may be involved in the cell-cell recognition phenomena and control of cell growth, whereas heparin may be involved in defense mechanisms against bacteria and other foreign materials. All indications obtained thus far suggest that these molecules perform the same functions in vertebrates and invertebrates.