Diet-induced hypercholesterolemia imparts structure-function changes to erythrocyte chondroitin sulphate/dermatan sulphate.

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-Osulphated 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]