Study of the role of sialic acids in the formation of bound form of insulin
Starosel'tseva, L.K.; Kracheva, N.K.; Tsvetkova, I.V.
Problemy Endokrinologii 23(5): 85-87
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0375-9660 PMID: 928327 Document Number: 116070
In studying the formation of insulin complexes with transferrin the role played by sialic acids in this process was ascertained. The role of terminal sialic acids, included into the glycoprotein composition, in the formation of complexes of these glycoproteins with a number of components circulating in the blood was noted earlier. To study the role played by sialic acids of transferrin molecule in the formation of complexes with insulin the author used transferrin untreated and treated with neuraminidase, an enzyme splitting the sialic acid molecules from grycoprotein specifically. The influence of these preparations on the biological activity of insulin was studied. Transferrin devoid of sialic acid lost its capacity to form complexes with insulin. Control experiments demonstrated that by itself neuraminidase treatment of preparations of transferrin and insulin failed to influence their biological activity. The results of experiments with the use of neuraminidase demonstrated that sialic acid in donor transferrin molecule could be of great significance in the formation of an insulin-transferrin complex.