Glycoglycan Mimic by Synthetic Polymers

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are important polysaccharides in the living system, but the availability of GAGs is limited due to the complicated structures. In this investigation, GAGs were re-organized by synthetic glycopolymers. GAGs mimic glycopolymers were synthesized by polymerization of acrylamide sugar derivatives carrying sulfated N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc). The interaction with proteins were investigated in view of inhibition of Alzheimer disease. The glycopolymer were prepared as molecular library with changing molecular weight, sugar structure and sugar ratios. The inhibitory activity of Alzheimer disease was studied by inhibitions of protein amyloidosis of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides. The biological activities depended on the chemical structure of glycopolymers. We found the correlation of glycopolymer activities to the native GAGs.