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Glucosamine is both a precursor metabolite and major component of complex carbohydrates in the cell. Glucosamine (GlcN) gets acetylated to form GlcNAc, which i
by hirenj 4y ago
Glucosamine is both a precursor metabolite and major component of complex carbohydrates in the cell.
Glucosamine (GlcN) gets acetylated to form GlcNAc, which is found in pretty much all the complex carbohydrate types in humans. It’s also the main component of the chitin shells on our insect/crustacean friends.
You can also find GlcN in glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), in heparan sulfates (transformed from GlcNAc to an N-sulfated GlcN by the NDSTs) as a prerequisite for further sulfation. The pattern of sulfation on these sugars is important for determining the bioactivity and interactions for each of the GAGs. For example, the sulfation pattern on heprarin is important to tune to avoid HITT while still maintaining anticoagulant activity.
- DantesKite 4y agoAny concerns about glucosamine raising eye pressure? And also, if NAG is a component of GAGs, doesn’t that mean taking an NAG supplement could contribute towards increased ocular pressure as well? Or are the chemical pathways in the body too dissimilar for that to happen?
- hirenj 4y agoIf there’s a connection, it might be via hyaluronan, another glycan polymer, which is abundant in the vitreous humor in the eye. I don’t know much about how it’s regulated. Generally, I don’t think we know enough about how metabolite levels translate to specific complex carb levels because there’s a relatively complex set of intermediate steps which themselves can be regulated.