Mammalian gastric mucin, at high concentration, is known to form a gel at low pH, behavior essential to the protection of the stomach from auto-digestion. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements of dilute solutions of porcine gastric mucin in an aqueous environment in the pH range 6-2 provide a direct visualization of extended fiberlike molecules at pH 6 that aggregate at pH 4 and below forming well-defined clusters at pH 2. The clusters consist of 10 or less molecules. AFM images of mucin at high concentration at pH 2 reveal clusters similar to those seen in the dilute solutions at low pH. We also imaged human gastric mucus revealing a network having a "pearl necklace" structure. The "pearls" are similar in size to the clusters found in the purified porcine gastric mucin gels. AFM images of deglycosylated mucin reveal that the deglycosylated portions of the molecule re-fold into compact, globular structures suggesting that the oligosaccharide chains are important in maintaining the extended conformation of mucin. However, the oligosaccharides do not appear to be directly involved in the aggregation at low pH, as clusters of similar size are observed at pH 2 in both native and deglycosylated mucin.

Regulation of angiogenesis involves interactions between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and components of the extracellular matrix, including fibronectin and heparan sulfate. In the present study, we identified two classes of VEGF binding sites on fibronectin. One was constitutively available whereas the availability of the other was modulated by the conformational state of fibronectin. Atomic force microscopy studies revealed that heparin and hydrophilic substrates promoted the extended conformation of fibronectin, leading to increased VEGF binding. The ability of heparin to enhance VEGF binding to fibronectin was dependent on the chemical composition and chain length of heparin, since long (>22 saccharides) heparin chains with sulfation on the 6-O and N positions of glucosamine units were required for full activity. Treatment of the complex endothelial extracellular matrix with heparin also increased VEGF binding, suggesting that heparin/heparan sulfate might regulate VEGF interactions within the extracellular matrix by controlling the structure and organization of fibronectin matrices.

Primary amyloidosis (AL) results from overproduction of unstable monoclonal immunoglobulin light chains (LCs) and the deposition of insoluble fibrils in tissues, leading to fatal organ disease. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are associated with AL fibrils and have been successfully targeted in the treatment of other forms of amyloidosis. We investigated the role of GAGs in LC fibrillogenesis. Ex vivo tissue amyloid fibrils were extracted and examined for structure and associated GAGs. The GAGs were detected along the length of the fibril strand, and the periodicity of heparan sulfate (HS) along the LC fibrils generated in vitro was similar to that of the ex vivo fibrils. To examine the role of sulfated GAGs on AL oligomer and fibril formation in vitro, a 1 LC purified from urine of a patient with AL amyloidosis was incubated in the presence or absence of GAGs. The fibrils generated in vitro at physiologic concentration, temperature, and pH shared morphologic characteristics with the ex vivo 1 amyloid fibrils. The presence of HS and over-O-sulfatedheparin enhanced the formation of oligomers and fibrils with HS promoting the most rapid transition. In contrast, GAGs did not enhance fibril formation of a non-amyloidogenic 1 LC purified from urine of a patient with multiple myeloma. The data indicate that the characteristics of the full-length 1 amyloidogenic LC, containing post-translational modifications, possess key elements that influence interactions of the LC with HS. These findings highlight the importance of the variable and constant LC regions in GAG interaction and suggest potential therapeutic targets for treatment.Amyloid deposition is hypothesized to play a role in many diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes, as well as the amyloidoses themselves (1). The amyloidoses are a group of systemic and localized diseases that exhibit deposition of insoluble fibrillar proteins in organs and tissues. Primary amyloidosis (AL) 2 is the most common systemic form in the UnitedStates. It results from a plasma cell dyscrasia in which clonal B cells produce an excess of amyloidogenic immunoglobulin light chains (LCs), which circulate and deposit as insoluble fibrils throughout the body (2). A structural rearrangement from nonfibril-prone oligomers to more fibril-prone conformers is required for protofilament formation (3). Nascent protofilaments can nucleate and elongate through the addition of partially folded oligomeric intermediates to the ends of the growing protofilaments. Protofilaments can further intertwine to form protofibrils and fibrils (4, 5). Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are one of the major components of the extracellular matrix. They consist of disaccharide repeating units that are unbranched and attached to a serine residue of a core protein through a trisaccharide linker. Each GAG has a unique sequence, and post-assembly modifications, which can be induced by a number of factors, lead to alterations in sulfation, acetylation, or length of chain (6). Recently, Staples et al. (7) showed that the fu...