Hypercholesterolemia is one of the factors contributing to cardiovascular problems. Erythrocytes are known to contribute its cholesterol to atherosclerotic plaque. Our earlier study showed that erythrocytes overexpress chondroitin sulphate/dermatan sulphate (CS/DS), a linear co-polymer, during diabetes which resulted in increased cytoadherence to extracellular matrix (ECM) components. This study was carried out to determine whether diet-induced hypercholesterolemia had any effect on erythrocyte CS/DS and impacted cytoadherence to ECM components. Unlike in diabetes, diet-induced hypercholesterolemia did not show quantitative changes in erythrocyte CS/DS but showed difference in proportion of un-sulphated and 4-O-sulphated disaccharides. Erythrocytes from hypercholesterolemic rats showed increased adhesion to ECM components which was abrogated to various extents when subjected to chondroitinase ABC digestion. However, isolated CS/DS chains showed a different pattern of binding to ECM components indicating that orientation of CS/DS chains could be playing a role in binding.
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