Biological properties of bacterial peptidoglycan

Abstract

Johannsen, L. Biological properties of bacterial peptidoglycan. APMIS 101: 337-344, 1993. Synthetic and natural muramyl peptides have a variety of biological actions in mammals, including the abilities to enhance sleep and body temperature. Although muramyl peptides can be detected constitutively in mammalian organisms, no biochemical synthetic pathways are known for muramyl peptides in mammals. However, muramyl peptides are well known as components of bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan (synonym: murein). Isolated bacterial cell walls elicit host responses similar to those produced by bacterial infections or by purified muramyl peptides. Mammalian cells which phagocytize bacteria can digest bacterial cell walls and release biologically active muramyl peptides. The released muramyl peptides then express some or all of the biological effects observed with synthetic muramyl peptides. Also, cell-free systems consisting of isolated bacterial cell walls and lysozyme produce substances with similar biological activities.

The Synthetic Immunomodulator Murabutide Controls Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Replication at Multiple Levels in Macrophages and Dendritic Cells

“…This has led to the evaluation of the capacity of several immunomodulators, either of exogenous or of endogenous origin, to control HIV-1 replication in APCs and to restore their functions (8,10,31,65). Muramyl peptides are a family of synthetic immunomodulators that are endowed with numerous biological activities and target essentially cells of the reticuloendothelial system (4,28,60). One selected member of this family, Murabutide, has been found to enhance the host's nonspecific resistance to bacterial and viral infections, to induce colony-stimulating activity, and to be well tolerated by humans (5,13,14,20).…”

Bacterial Cell Wall-Induced Arthritis: Chemical Composition and Tissue Distribution of FourLactobacillusStrains

“…Apart from PG, other components of the bacterial cell wall include polysaccharide, teichoic acids, and the cell wall-associated proteins. These structures, in the cell wall complex or alone, are biologically active (24,25). However, it has remained unclear which are the structural characteristics within this complex finally determining the arthritogenicity or nonarthritogenicity.…”

Selective Regulation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected CD4+Lymphocytes by a Synthetic Immunomodulator Leads to Potent Virus Suppression In Vitro and in hu-PBL-SCID Mice

“…For nearly 2 decades, muramyl peptides were evaluated mostly as nonspecific enhancers of host resistance against microbial infections and as vaccine adjuvants (32,73). The biological activities of these immunomodulators were also linked to their capacity to activate macrophages, and few studies have addressed the direct effects on T lymphocytes (4,63).…”

“…The biological effects of immunomodulators of bacterial origin, including muramyl peptides, peptidoglycans, and lipopolysaccharide, have been associated mostly with the activation of APCs and the induction of cytokine and chemokine release (4,32,71). However, it is becoming evident that some of these compounds may act on other cell types, including lymphocytes (38,69), and can regulate the expression of multiple cellular genes other than those of cytokines (67,71).…”