Changes in the gut microbiome have long been linked with Crohn's disease and other forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but the biology behind those links has remained murky. Researchers at the Broad Institute, Massachusetts ...
Jun 11, 2019
0
546
Genetics has provided surprising insights into why vaccines used in both the UK and US to combat serious childhood infections can eventually fail. The study, published today in Nature Genetics, which investigates how bacteria ...
Jan 29, 2012
0
0
A first-ever vaccine created by University of Guelph researchers for gut bacteria common in autistic children may also help control some autism symptoms. The groundbreaking study by Brittany Pequegnat and Guelph chemistry ...
Apr 24, 2013
1
0
In several clinical trials, the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus paracasei DG has been shown to promote health, but until now, the mechanism has remained a black box. New research now suggests that the health benefits arise ...
Dec 2, 2016
0
13
New research led by the University of Sheffield has discovered how a hospital superbug evades the immune system to cause infection – paving the way for new treatments.
May 2, 2019
0
9
Fujifilm Corporation has developed the micro-needle array which is a new drug administration method that has gained attention for delivering the drug into the body just by attaching it onto the skin.
Nov 14, 2012
0
0
The development of therapeutic drugs for inflammatory bowel disease, an intractable immune disease, and multiple sclerosis—an autoimmune disorder—is gaining traction. A research team from the Department of Life Sciences ...
Jun 25, 2021
0
3
(Medical Xpress) -- Researchers at the University of Liverpool are examining the evolution of Pseudomonas aeruginosa over time in the lungs of ten people with cystic fibrosis to understand why it persists in these patients ...
Mar 6, 2012
0
0
In a study published by JAMA, Jacquelyn M. Powers, M.D., M.S., of the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and colleagues compared two medications, ferrous sulfate and iron polysaccharide complex, for the treatment of nutritional ...
Jun 13, 2017
0
2
A study revealed today at The International Liver Congress 2015 has demonstrated that alginate-enriched bread has the potential to inhibit fat digestion and circulatory lipids in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ...
Apr 23, 2015
0
1
Polysaccharides are long carbohydrate molecules, of repeated monomer units joined together by glycosidic bonds. They range in structure from linear to highly branched. Polysaccharides are often quite heterogeneous, containing slight modifications of the repeating unit. Depending on the structure, these macromolecules can have distinct properties from their monosaccharide building blocks. They may be amorphous or even insoluble in water.
When all the monosaccharides in a polysaccharide are the same type, the polysaccharide is called a homopolysaccharide or homoglycan, but when more than one type of monosaccharide is present they are called heteropolysaccharides or heteroglycans.
Examples include storage polysaccharides such as starch and glycogen, and structural polysaccharides such as cellulose and chitin.
Polysaccharides have a general formula of Cx(H2O)y where x is usually a large number between 200 and 2500. Considering that the repeating units in the polymer backbone are often six-carbon monosaccharides, the general formula can also be represented as (C6H10O5)n where 40≤n≤3000.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
