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Arabinogalactan, a microheterogeneous polysaccharide occurring in plants, is known for its allergy‐protective activity, which could potentially be used for preventive allergy treatment. New treatment options are highly desirable, especially in a preventive manner, due to the constant rise of atopic diseases worldwide. The structural origin of the allergy‐protective activity of arabinogalactan is, however, still unclear and isolation of the polysaccharide is not feasible for pharmaceutical applications due to a variation of the activity of the natural product and contaminations with endotoxins. Therefore, a pentasaccharide partial structure was selected for total synthesis and subsequently coupled to a carrier protein to form a neoglycoconjugate. The allergy‐protective activity of arabinogalactan could be reproduced with the partial structure in subsequent in vivo experiments. This is the first example of a successful simplification of arabinogalactan with a single partial structure while retaining its allergy‐preventive potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: airway inflammation; allergy protection; arabinogalactan; carbohydrates; total synthesis EN airway inflammation allergy protection arabinogalactan carbohydrates total synthesis 827 827 1 01/18/21 20210113 NES 210113 B Growing up in an alpine farming environment b with frequent contact to cowsheds is protective against allergic diseases. Airway inflammation, allergy protection, arabinogalactan, carbohydrates, total synthesis. [Extracted from the article]

The enzyme, nitric oxide-sensitive guanylyl cyclase (NO-GC), is activated by binding NO to its prosthetic heme group and catalyzes the formation of cGMP. The NO-GC is primarily known to mediate vascular smooth muscle relaxation in the lung, and inhaled NO has been successfully used as a selective pulmonary vasodilator. In comparison, NO-GC's impact on the regulation of airway tone is less acknowledged and, most importantly, little is known about the issue that NO-GC signaling is accomplished by two isoforms: NO-GC1 and NO-GC2, implying the existence of distinct "cGMP pools." Herein, we investigated the functional role of the NO-GC isoforms in respiration by measuring lung function parameters of isoform-specific knockout (KO) mice using noninvasive and invasive techniques. Our data revealed the participation and ongoing influence of NO-GC1-derived cGMP in the regulation of airway tone by showing that respiratory resistance was enhanced in NO-GC1-KOs and increased more pronouncedly after the challenge with the bronchoconstrictor methacholine. The tissue resistance and stiffness of NO-GC1-KOs were also higher because of narrowed airways that cause tissue distortion. Contrariwise, NO-GC2-KOs displayed reduced tissue elasticity, elastic recoil, and airway reactivity to methacholine, which did not even increase in an ovalbumin model of asthma that induced hyperresponsiveness in NO-GC1-KOs. In addition, conscious NO-GC2-KOs showed a higher breathing rate with a shorter duration of inspiration and expiration time, which remained faster even in the presence of bronchoconstrictors that slow down breathing. Thus, we provide evidence of two distinct NO/cGMP pathways in airways, accomplished by either NO-GC1 or NO-GC2, adjusting differentially the airway reactivity.

Arabinogalactan, a microheterogeneous polysaccharide occurring in plants, is known for its allergy-protective activity, which could potentially be used for preventive allergy treatment. New treatment options are highly desirable, especially in a preventive manner, due to the constant rise of atopic diseases worldwide. The structural origin of the allergy-protective activity of arabinogalactan is, however, still unclear and isolation of the polysaccharide is not feasible for pharmaceutical applications due to a variation of the activity of the natural product and contaminations with endotoxins. Therefore, a pentasaccharide partial structure was selected for total synthesis and subsequently coupled to a carrier protein to form a neoglycoconjugate. The allergy-protective activity of arabinogalactan could be reproduced with the partial structure in subsequent in vivo experiments. This is the first example of a successful simplification of arabinogalactan with a single partial structure while retaining its allergy-preventive potential., (© 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The availability of convenient assays for the detection and quantification of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) is limited. In the case of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) the so-called LAL (limulus amebocyte lysate) test is available, an assay that is performed with the lysate of the blood of the horse shoe crab. Although a sensitive and convenient assay, it lacks specificity, since it is affected by other endotoxins like, for instance, fungal cell walls as well. Here, we describe a bioassay that can be used to detect and quantitate PAMPs in environmental samples. More specific we demonstrate the usage of TLR2 and TLR4/CD14/MD2 transfected Hek293 cells to quantitatively determine bacterial lipoproteins and LPS, respectively. We show the usefulness of these assays to measure LPS in tobacco before and after combustion.