Biological Activity of Glycogen

Glycogen is a water-soluble Polysaccharide, a macromolecular compound formed by the polymerization of glucose molecules through glycosidic bonds. It is found in several species including animals, fungi, etc. Abnormal metabolism of glycogen has been linked to the pathogenesis of certain diseases. Glycogen has been found to have anticancer activity, as well as some immunomodulatory and antioxidant activity. Glycogen derivatives also have more biological activities, such as anticoagulant, lymphocyte proliferation, and anti-inflammatory activities. Glycogen is also currently extracted from plants. It has been found that plant glycogen (PG) also possesses some antibacterial activity. PG has the potential to be used as a novel natural, biological, and edible nanomaterial.

Glycogen Analysis Service at CD BioGlyco

CD BioGlyco injects a lot of effort into Carbohydrate Metabolism Analysis. Glycogen is a macromolecular substance composed of Glucose, which plays a role in regulating blood glucose homeostasis in the body. Glycogen metabolism is one of the metabolic pathways of saccharides in the organism. Studying the structure of glycogen is important for its synthesis, degradation, biological activity, and related diseases. We analyze the glycogen content and structure of various animal, fungal, and bacterial samples. We use various techniques to obtain the molecular weight distribution, chain length distribution, degree of branching, and content of glycogen.

• High-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD)

HPAEC is a type of high-performance ion exchange chromatography. The principle is based on the separation of the samples to be tested by the difference in the number of alcohol salt groups in an alkaline environment. This method is much easier to operate and the sample pretreatment process is simpler. We used HPAEC-PAD to separate and quantify glycogen.

• Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4)

It is a new chromatographic separation technique that is commonly used for large molecules, granular substances, and gums. This method has several advantages. Samples are separated simultaneously depending on their multiple physicochemical properties and the samples have minimal shear degradation effects. We use this method to understand the physicochemical properties of glycogen over the entire size distribution, including the root-mean-square radius, the molar mass, etc.

• Transmission electron microscope (TEM)

TEM is widely used in fields such as biology and materials science. We apply TEM to observe the microstructure of glycogen, including the aggregation of glycogen α-particles and β-particles, the particle size of α-particles and β-particles, etc.

Fig.1 Structural analysis of glycogen. (CD BioGlyco)

Publication

Paper Title: Size, structure and scaling relationships in glycogen from various sources investigated with asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation and ¹H NMR

Technology: AF4-MALS-RI, NMR

Journal: International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

IF: 5.162

Published: 2011

Results: In the present study, the size, structure, and proportion of glycogen isolated from five species of animals were studied by AF4-MALS-RI and ¹H NMR. The degree of branching of various glycogen was determined by ¹H NMR. The results showed that glycogen is a hyperbranched macromolecule and glycogen has a more branched degree than branched starch. The degree of branching varied from sample to sample. Results of FFF analysis showed that glycogen is a polydisperse macromolecule with the presence of ultra-high molar mass fractions. Glycogen has a wide size distribution. It exhibits diverse conformational properties in terms of size distribution.

Fig. 2. The apparent density of glycogen vs. rms radius. (Fernandez, et al., 2011)

Applications

• There is a correlation between abnormalities in glycogen metabolism and the pathogenesis of certain diseases. Studying the structure of glycogen is important for correlation studies.
• The highly branched structure of PG confers excellent adsorption, antimicrobial, and film-forming properties, etc. The structure analysis of PG provides data support for its applications.
• Studying the possible role of glycogen in the treatment of cancer, diabetes, and other diseases.

Advantages

• We use emerging advanced chromatographic separation techniques with low sample loss. The sample pretreatment process is simple and has little shear degradation effect.
• The AF4 technology has several advantages over traditional techniques for chromatographic separation. This method is simultaneously used to separate samples according to a variety of physicochemical properties.
• We use HPAEC-PAD to analyze glycogen in a short, efficient, and reproducible manner. This method has high resolution and high sensitivity.

CD BioGlyco is experienced in polysaccharide extraction, purification, structural analysis, and methylation analysis. Please feel free to contact us with your questions and requests. We will respond the first time.