engleski

Glycobiology of Stress

Psychological stress is associated with numerous diseases, but molecular mechanisms linking stress to the development of disease are only starting to be understood. Stress alert is conveyed by hormonal signals throughout the body, yet a particular cell response to a hormonal signal is not determined by the signal itself, but by the molecular composition, energy content, and by the physiological role and current status of the target cell. Stress induced changes in glycoconjugate structures and expression of their receptors lectins appear to be an important molecular consequences of stress experience. At the moment only several fragments of the glycobiological mechanisms involved in the physiological response to psychological stress are known, but the complete picture is slowly emerging. Corticosteroids affect activity of at least one glycosyltransferase both in vitro and in vivo. Altered activity of glycosyltransferases results in different carbohydrate structures attached to glycoproteins, and these changes have been demonstrated both in humans and in experimental animals. A change in the carbohydrate structures attached to a glycoprotein is a well-established way to change its structural and functional properties, and recently this was shown to be one of the mechanisms that control activity of membrane receptors. Although this type of glycosylation-mediated receptor modulation in stress still has to be proven, it is a very interesting hypothesis. On the other hand, new glycoconjugate structures could also represent novel signals on the cell surface that could alter interaction of the cell with neighboring cells. Stress is also known to be associated with the appearance of novel lectins that could be receptors for either novel, or also “ normal” glycoconjugate structures, translating their structures into molecular functions. Although most of this is still largely speculative, hopefully more will be known soon about the molecular role of glycoconjugates, their lectin receptors, and glycosyltransferases in the physiological response to psychological stress.

Stress; Glycobiology

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (ISSN 0077-8923) ; vol. 1113