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.