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Glucosylceramide Synthase
Glucocerebroside (also called glucosylceramide) is any of the cerebrosides in which the monosaccharide head group is glucose. Research conducted on glucocerebrosides has shown that glucocerebrosides help support cellular functions in humans, such as signaling pathways as well as being possibly linked to diseases. Certain symptoms of diseases such as Gaucher's and Parkinson's disease have been linked to abnormal changes in glucocerebroside metabolism, such as changes in glucocerebroside levels and regulation. Researchers have also started to study the role of glucocerebrosides in cancer. In Gaucher's disease, the enzyme glucocerebrosidase is nonfunctional and cannot break down glucocerebroside into glucose and ceramide in the lysosome. Affected macrophages, called Gaucher cells, have a distinct appearance similar to "wrinkled tissue paper" under light microscopy, because the substrates build-up within the lysosome. In 2019, research conducted by Lee et al., shows that glucocer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cerebroside
Cerebrosides (monoglycosylceramides) are a group of glycosphingolipids which are important components of animal muscle and nerve cell membranes. They consist of a ceramide with a single sugar residue at the 1-hydroxyl moiety. The sugar residue can be either glucose or galactose; the two major types are therefore called glucocerebrosides (a.k.a. glucosylceramides) and galactocerebrosides (a.k.a. galactosylceramides). Galactocerebrosides are typically found in neural tissue, while glucocerebrosides are found in other tissues. Structure The fundamental structure of a cerebroside is ceramide. Monoglycosyl and oligoglycosylceramides having a mono or polysaccharide bonded glycosidically to the terminal OH group of ceramide are defined as cerebrosides. Sphingosine is the main long-chain base present in ceramide. Galactosylceramide is the principal glycosphingolipid in brain tissue. Galactosylceramides are present in all nervous tissues, and can compose up to 2% dry weight of grey m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monosaccharide
Monosaccharides (from Greek '' monos'': single, '' sacchar'': sugar), also called simple sugars, are the simplest forms of sugar and the most basic units (monomers) from which all carbohydrates are built. Chemically, monosaccharides are polyhydroxy aldehydes with the formula or polyhydroxy ketones with the formula with three or more carbon atoms. They are usually colorless, water- soluble, and crystalline organic solids. Contrary to their name (sugars), only some monosaccharides have a sweet taste. Most monosaccharides have the formula (CH2O)''x'' (though not all molecules with this formula are monosaccharides). Examples of monosaccharides include glucose (dextrose), fructose (levulose), and galactose. Monosaccharides are the building blocks of disaccharides (such as sucrose, lactose and maltose) and polysaccharides (such as cellulose and starch). The table sugar used in everyday vernacular is itself a disaccharide sucrose comprising one molecule of each of the two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, using energy from sunlight. It is used by plants to make cellulose, the most abundant carbohydrate in the world, for use in cell walls, and by all living Organism, organisms to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used by the cell as energy. In energy metabolism, glucose is the most important source of energy in all organisms. Glucose for metabolism is stored as a polymer, in plants mainly as amylose and amylopectin, and in animals as glycogen. Glucose circulates in the blood of animals as blood sugar. The naturally occurring form is -glucose, while its Stereoisomerism, stereoisomer L-glucose, -glucose is produced synthetically in comparatively small amounts and is less biologicall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sphingolipid
Sphingolipids are a class of lipids containing a backbone of sphingoid bases, which are a set of aliphatic amino alcohols that includes sphingosine. They were discovered in brain extracts in the 1870s and were named after the mythological sphinx because of their enigmatic nature. These compounds play important roles in signal transduction and cell recognition. Sphingolipidoses, or disorders of sphingolipid metabolism, have particular impact on neural tissue. A sphingolipid with a terminal hydroxyl group is a ceramide. Other common groups bonded to the terminal oxygen atom include phosphocholine, yielding a sphingomyelin, and various sugar monomers or dimers, yielding cerebrosides and globosides, respectively. Cerebrosides and globosides are collectively known as glycosphingolipids. Structure The long-chain bases, sometimes simply known as sphingoid bases, are the first non-transient products of '' de novo'' sphingolipid synthesis in both yeast and mammals. These co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaucher Disease
Gaucher's disease or Gaucher disease () (GD) is a genetic disorder in which glucocerebroside (a sphingolipid, also known as glucosylceramide) accumulates in cells and certain organs. The disorder is characterized by bruising, fatigue, anemia, low blood platelet count and enlargement of the liver and spleen, and is caused by a hereditary deficiency of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (also known as glucosylceramidase), which acts on glucocerebroside. When the enzyme is defective, glucocerebroside accumulates, particularly in white blood cells and especially in macrophages (mononuclear leukocytes, which is often a target for intracellular parasites). Glucocerebroside can collect in the spleen, liver, kidneys, lungs, brain, and bone marrow. Manifestations may include enlarged spleen and liver, liver malfunction, skeletal disorders or bone lesions that may be painful, severe neurological complications, swelling of lymph nodes and (occasionally) adjacent joints, distended abdomen, a brownis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glucocerebrosidase
β-Glucocerebrosidase (also called acid β-glucosidase, D-glucosyl-N-acylsphingosine glucohydrolase, or GCase) is an enzyme with glucosylceramidase activity () that cleaves by hydrolysis the β-glycosidic linkage of the chemical glucocerebroside, an intermediate in glycolipid metabolism that is abundant in cell membranes (particularly skin cells). It is localized in the lysosome, where it remains associated with the lysosomal membrane. β-Glucocerebrosidase is 497 amino acids in length and has a molecular mass of 59,700 Da. Structure β-Glucocerebrosidase is a member of the glycoside hydrolase family 30 and consists of three distinct domains (I-III). File:Structure of human beta-glucocerebrosidase @.png, Three-dimensional PyMol rendering of glucocerebrosidase with three domains highlighted. File:Glucocerebrosidase active site.png, Three-dimensional PyMol rendering of glucocerebrosidase with catalytic residues highlighted. Domain I (residues 1–27 and 383–414) forms a th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceramide
Ceramides are a family of waxy lipid molecules. A ceramide is composed of sphingosine and a fatty acid joined by an amide bond. Ceramides are found in high concentrations within the cell membrane of Eukaryote, eukaryotic cells, since they are component lipids that make up sphingomyelin, one of the major lipids in the lipid bilayer. Contrary to previous assumptions that ceramides and other sphingolipids found in cell membrane were purely supporting structural elements, ceramide can participate in a variety of cellular lipid signaling, signaling: examples include regulating cell differentiation, differentiation, cell proliferation, proliferation, and programmed cell death (PCD) of Cell (biology), cells. The word ''ceramide'' comes from the Latin ''cera'' (wax) and ''amide''. Ceramide is a component of vernix caseosa, the waxy or cheese-like white substance found coating the skin of newborn human infants. Pathways for ceramide synthesis There are three major pathways of ceramide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macrophages
Macrophages (; abbreviated MPhi, φ, MΦ or MP) are a type of white blood cell of the innate immune system that engulf and digest pathogens, such as cancer cells, microbes, cellular debris and foreign substances, which do not have proteins that are specific to healthy body cells on their surface. This self-protection method can be contrasted with that employed by Natural killer cell, Natural Killer cells. This process of engulfment and digestion is called phagocytosis; it acts to defend the host against infection and injury. Macrophages are found in essentially all tissues, where they patrol for potential pathogens by amoeboid movement. They take various forms (with various names) throughout the body (e.g., histiocytes, Kupffer cells, alveolar macrophages, microglia, and others), but all are part of the mononuclear phagocyte system. Besides phagocytosis, they play a critical role in nonspecific defense (innate immunity) and also help initiate specific defense mechanisms (adapti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light Microscopy
Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view subjects too small to be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical, electron, and scanning probe microscopy, along with the emerging field of X-ray microscopy. Optical microscopy and electron microscopy involve the diffraction, reflection, or refraction of electromagnetic radiation/electron beams interacting with the specimen, and the collection of the scattered radiation or another signal in order to create an image. This process may be carried out by wide-field irradiation of the sample (for example standard light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy) or by scanning a fine beam over the sample (for example confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy). Scanning probe microscopy involves the interaction of a scanning probe with the surface of the object of interest. The de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become more prevalent as the disease progresses. The motor symptoms are collectively called parkinsonism and include tremors, bradykinesia, spasticity, rigidity as well as postural instability (i.e., difficulty maintaining balance). Non-motor symptoms develop later in the disease and include behavior change (individual), behavioral changes or mental disorder, neuropsychiatric problems such as sleep abnormalities, psychosis, anosmia, and mood swings. Most Parkinson's disease cases are idiopathic disease, idiopathic, though contributing factors have been identified. Pathophysiology involves progressive nerve cell death, degeneration of nerve cells in the substantia nigra, a midbrain region that provides dopamine to the basal ganglia, a system invo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
