Glyconutrients

Our Microvascular supplement improves Glycocalyx Health effectively. Endocalyx™ has been clinically shown to maintain blood flow circulation. Shop online now!

This review aims at presenting state-of-the-art knowledge on the composition and functions of the endothelial glycocalyx. The endothelial glycocalyx is a network of membrane-bound proteoglycans and glycoproteins, covering the endothelium luminally. Both ...

Could you have imagined that one of the most essential elements for your good health lies in a vast protective gel lining of all of your capillaries that touches each of your trillions of cells … and most likely, you’ve never even heard about it. Come with me as we travel inside your vascular system and flow along with your blood. Every cell of your body is nourished by the blood that travels through the capillaries that make up 99% of your circulatory system-from head to toe. Placed end-to-end, scientists estimate they would extend 60,000 miles, enough to go around the earth two and a half times. With every heartbeat, vital nutrients and oxygen are delivered and waste is removed from each cell. This essential process breaks down with aging, poor diet, lack of exercise, genetics, stress and smoking. New medical science has revealed the importance of a transparent micro-thin gel-like lining in your blood vessels that protects your entire circulatory system. In the past, blood vessels were thought to be simple hollow tubes. But with today’s high resolution video microscopes, a discovery reveals that the entire circulatory system is coated with a gel like lining that protects the inside walls of the arteries, veins and capillaries. This protective gel-like lining of the capillaries and all other blood vessels is called the glycocalyx. Its integrity is essential to the healthy function of all the cells, organs and body systems. The glycocalyx keeps your body healthy in three critical ways. First, it functions as the natural trigger that stimulates the production of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is vital in controlling blood flow and blood pressure. The glycocalyx stores anti-oxidants and, working together with nitric oxide, both increase blood flow, on demand, when organs call for it. For example, when you’re walking upstairs. Or even when your brain is working through a difficult problem. Bottom line: your body needs a thick and healthy glycocalyx to efficiently regulate blood flow. Second, a healthy glycocalyx allows your body to engage more of the available capillaries of the microvascular system when blood flow increases. This is critical to regulate the supply of nutrients and oxygen, and the removal of waste and carbon dioxide, according to the body’s level of activity, such as when you exercise. Bottom line: While blood flow control is important, the glycocalyx allows your body to engage more capillaries when organs demand nourishment and waste removal. Third, capillaries are much more than simple hollow tubes. In fact, their inner surface is coated with the non-stick glycocalyx that prevents loss of capillaries through fluid leakage, blood clotting and inflammation. This coating prevents sticking when you don’t need it, and it keeps blood clotting and inflammation under control. For example, when your body’s healthy, it can repair a simple cut or fight an infection. Bottom line: a healthy glycocalyx not only engages more capillaries when blood flow goes up, but it also protects the capillary network and even the entire vascular system from deterioration and loss. Ongoing clinical research from more than 50 studies confirms that a compromised glycocalyx and a damaged microvascular system are linked to organ starvation. Early warning signs of organ starvation include cold hands and feet, leg cramps, skin problems, hair thinning, fatigue, lack of focus, memory loss, certain eye problems, hearing loss, severe PMS, erectile dysfunction, high blood pressure, and even type 2 diabetes. Emerging research is beginning to show that it’s not too late to slow down, or even reverse, the breakdown of the protective properties of the glycocalyx. More at https://microvascular.com/

Sugar-protein glycocalyx coats healthy endothelium, but its ultrastructure is not well described. Our aim was to determine the three-dimensional ultrastructure of capillary endothelial glycocalyx in the heart, kidney, and liver, where capillaries are, ...

Background Glucosamine hydrochloride, a natural biopolymer present in the daily diet, has various biological activities including antitumour properties and protective effects against pathogens. Early studies showed that daily administration of a derivative of glucosamine induced proliferation of leukemia cells and prolonged overall survival in mice; importantly, no toxicity was associated with the glucosamine treatment. However, the potential mechanism of the antitumour effect is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory mechanism and effect of glucosamine on human gastric carcinoma cells in vitro. Methods Gastric carcinoma MKN-45 cells were exposed to 0, 100, 500 and 1000 µg/mL glucosamine hydrochloride for 72 hours, and then the viability and proliferation of gastric carcinoma cells in vitro was measured using the MTT (3-(4.5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2.5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. Quantitative gene expression of MMP-2 and -3 was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Protein level was analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Glucosamine hydrochloride has a significant inhibitory antitumour effect on MKN-45 cells in vitro. The cell viability of MKN-45 cells treated with different concentrations of glucosamine hydrochloride rose continuously from 24 to 72 hours compared with the untreated control. MKN-45 cells were inhibited by 54% by 500 µg/mL glucosamine hydrochloride and by 85% by 1000 µg/mL glucosamine hydrochloride. Administration of 500 µg/mL glucosamine hydrochloride resulted in a significant decrease in MMP-2 and MMP-3 expression of about 79% and 70%, respectively, in MKN-45 cells. Conclusions In this study, we showed that the antitumour activity of glucosamine hydrochloride significantly suppresses MKN-45 cells in vitro. This effect was shown by inhibitory gene expression of MMP-2 and -3. Acknowledgments This research was financially supported by Zhuhai College of Jilin University.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease with complex underling mechanisms 1–3. The interactions among several factors make the study of the disease very complex and often lead to different treatment, i.e. surgical or conservative, decisions for subjects clinically and radiographically similar. Recent explorations performed at the body level pointed out that macro-factors, like overweight or gait, can influence the development of the disease 4. The number of related factors is high, and they are very likely to interact with each other. However, the literature lacks randomized and balanced studies to verify such effects of multiple factors 5. Objectives: The aim of this work was to develop a multifactorial analysis to explore whether and how gait functionality and dynamics can be related to treatment decision. Methods: A multifactorial analysis of gait dynamics in OA subjects was developed. 81 OA subjects, graded 2-3 in KL, were selected based on 4 clinical factors: Gender (male – female), Age (60-67 – 68-75), BMI (25–29.9 – 30+) and Treatment (total knee replacement (TKR) – conservative treatment). Gait analysis was performed using 8 cameras BTS Smart-DX 700, 1.5 Mpixels 250 fps and 2 force plates BTS P-6000 500 Hz sampling (BTS S.p.A., Milan, Italy). Helen Hayes marker protocol with medial markers was used for the study. Each volunteer was asked to perform a minimum of 5 valid gait sequences. Functionality and dynamics parameters were measured. Functionality : Velocity of gait and the time needed to perform a gait cycle were computed. Dynamics: The reaction forces and torques at the ankles, knees and hips were computed through inverse dynamic analyses. Analysis of variance was performed for the four factors described among the functionality and dynamics parameters. Results: The multifactorial analysis showed that functionality values are more subjective to the studied factors than the dynamics ones. Functionality seems to be directly related to the clinical treatment. Patients who selected TKR needed more time to make a step, spent more time in double stand position and walked slower (p

Osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative joint disease causing pain and disability. Glucosamine sulphate is a well known oral supplement for its treatment. The present pioneering study provides an overview of the accentuated transdermal delivery of glucosamine sulphate through the optimized gel formulation w

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder that affects the joint synovium. Anserine is a functional dipeptide containing methylhistidine and β-alanine, and is present in the brain and skeletal muscle of birds and mammals. Glucosamine is an amino sugar used in the synthesis of glycosylated proteins and lipids. We evaluated the effects of anserine and glucosamine on RA. Rats were assigned into the control group, RA group, anserine group (1 mg/kg), glucosamine group (200 mg/kg), or anserine plus glucosamine group (anserine, 1 mg/kg + glucosamine, 200 mg/kg). Treatment was continued for 45 consecutive days and was administered orally. The serum levels of catalase, glutathione peroxidase (Gpx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation, uric acid, nitric oxide, ceruloplasmin, zinc, copper, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-3, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-6 were assayed. The mRNA and protein levels of nuclear factor (NF)-κB and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in synovial tissue were also determined. Anserine plus glucosamine significantly increased the catalase, SOD, Gpx, GSH, and zinc levels compared to the control, anserine, and glucosamine groups. Also, anserine plus glucosamine significantly reduced the PGE2, MMP-3, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 levels compared to the control, anserine, and glucosamine groups. Furthermore, anserine plus glucosamine significantly reduced the mRNA and protein levels of NF-κB and iNOS compared to the control, anserine, and glucosamine groups. Therefore, supplementation of anserine plus glucosamine shows therapeutic potential for RA.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer‑associated mortality worldwide, and glucosamine has the potential to exhibit antitumor activity. To reveal its anti‑lung cancer mechanism, the present study investigated the effect of glucosamine on the transcriptional activity of forkhead box O (FOXO)1 …

Background Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most common types of cancer in urological system worldwide. Recently, the anticancer role of Glucosamine has been studied in many types of cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Glucosamine on RCC. Methods The effects of Glucosamine on RCC cell proliferation and apoptosis were investigated by MTT assay and Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis assay, respectively in vitro. Cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry after treatment with Glucosamine. Protein levels of several cell cycle associated markers were examined by Western Blot. Results Our data showed that Glucosamine significantly inhibited the proliferation of renal cancer 786-O and Caki-1 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Besides, Glucosamine treatment resulted in cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase in both cell lines. Meanwhile, the expression of several regulators that contribute to G1/S phased transition, such as Cyclin D1, CDK4 and CDK6, were significantly down-regulated with the up-regulation of cell cycle inhibitors, p21 and p53, after treatment with glucosamine. However, the apoptosis rate of RCC cells was down-regulated when treatment with Glucosamine at 1 mM and 5 mM, while up-regulated at 10 mM. Conclusions Our findings indicated that Glucosamine inhibited the proliferation of RCC cells by promoting cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase, but not promoting apoptosis. The present results suggested that Glucosamine might be a potential therapeutic agent in RCC treatment in the future.

Glucosamine (GlcN), also known as aminosaccharide, is an important functional monosaccharide and the first amino monosaccharide to be identified as a hydroxyl group of glucose substituted by amino ...

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Objective To prospectively assess the association of habitual glucosamine use with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting UK Biobank. Participants 466 039 participants without CVD at baseline who completed a questionnaire on supplement use, which included glucosamine. These participants were enrolled from 2006 to 2010 and were followed up to 2016. Main outcome measures Incident CVD events, including CVD death, coronary heart disease, and stroke. Results During a median follow-up of seven years, there were 10 204 incident CVD events, 3060 CVD deaths, 5745 coronary heart disease events, and 3263 stroke events. After adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, race, lifestyle factors, dietary intakes, drug use, and other supplement use, glucosamine use was associated with a significantly lower risk of total CVD events (hazard ratio 0.85, 95% confidence interval 0.80 to 0.90), CVD death (0.78, 0.70 to 0.87), coronary heart disease (0.82, 0.76 to 0.88), and stroke (0.91, 0.83 to 1.00). Conclusion Habitual use of glucosamine supplement to relieve osteoarthritis pain might also be related to lower risks of CVD events.

Objectives To evaluate the associations of regular glucosamine use with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a large prospective cohort. Methods This population-based prospective cohort study included 495 077 women and men (mean (SD) age, 56.6 (8.1) years) from the UK Biobank study. Participants were recruited from 2006 to 2010 and were followed up through 2018. We evaluated all-cause mortality and mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, respiratory and digestive disease. HRs and 95% CIs for all-cause and cause-specific mortality were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for potential confounding variables. Results At baseline, 19.1% of the participants reported regular use of glucosamine supplements. During a median follow-up of 8.9 years (IQR 8.3–9.7 years), 19 882 all-cause deaths were recorded, including 3802 CVD deaths, 8090 cancer deaths, 3380 respiratory disease deaths and 1061 digestive disease deaths. In multivariable adjusted analyses, the HRs associated with glucosamine use were 0.85 (95% CI 0.82 to 0.89) for all-cause mortality, 0.82 (95% CI 0.74 to 0.90) for CVD mortality, 0.94 (95% CI 0.88 to 0.99) for cancer mortality, 0.73 (95% CI 0.66 to 0.81) for respiratory mortality and 0.74 (95% CI 0.62 to 0.90) for digestive mortality. The inverse associations of glucosamine use with all-cause mortality seemed to be somewhat stronger among current than non-current smokers (p for interaction=0.00080). Conclusions Regular glucosamine supplementation was associated with lower mortality due to all causes, cancer, CVD, respiratory and digestive diseases.

The present study is performed to investigate the effect of two different glucosamine containing drugs: Drug 1 and Drug 2 (D1 and D2) against CCl4 induced brain damage in male albino rats. Liverin (AM) was employed in the current study as an antioxidant reference drug. CCl4 administration caused a significant elevation in the levels of MDA and NO of brain tissue, in association with a significant decrease in the antioxidant defense system (GSH, SOD and GPX) that indicated the induction of oxidative stress in brain tissue. CCl4 administration induced brain injury as manifested by the obtained changes in neurotransmitter parameter (norepinephrine (NE), Dopamine (DA), Serotonin (5-HT), and Acetylcholinesterase AChE). The tested nutraceuticals and the antioxidant drug displayed a significant improvement against the undue effect of CCl4 via decreasing the brain tissue content of MDA, NO with the elevation of GSH content. Also, the significant increase in SOD and GPX enzymatic activity was obtained when compared to CCL4 group. In addition AM, D1, and D2 have an ameliorative effect on neurotransmitter parameter NE, DA, 5HT, and AChE. Results of this study suggest that both antioxidant drugs and tested nutraceuticals palliate the brain injuries through anti-oxidative effect, with the elimination of the deleterious effect of toxic metabolites of CCl4 on brain tissue.

Purpose: Inflammation in osteoarthritis (OA) has been characterized by infiltration of immune cells and secretion of cytokines into synovial tissues. Also, noradrenaline levels, sympathetic nerve fiber distribution and β2-AR expression in the bone of rats have been associated with subchondral bone loss and increased osteoclast activity. All these data suggest the participation of the adrenergic and immune systems in the development and evolution of OA. However, the relationship among the systemic adrenergic and immune systems activation with the OA progression and treatment response is much less well known.

Glucosamine is a glycosylated amine and a slow-acting symptomatic treatment for osteoarthritis. Some experimental animal studies have shown that glucosamine can cause apoptosis in kidney tubular and mesangial cells as well as overexpression of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and connective-ti …

The aim of the stuy was to observe and analyze the effect of glucosamine hydrochloride tablets on patients with cervical spondylosis. This study was conducted on 130 patients diagnosed with cervical spondylosis who were treated in our hospital. The time period was from June 2015 to December 2017. Th …

The derivatives of glucose such as glucosamine (β-D-GlcN) and N-acetyl-D-β-glucosamine (GlcNAc) are significant in several biological systems. D-GlcN …

Background: Glucosamine, chondroitinsulfate are frequently used to prevent further joint degeneration in osteoarthritis (OA). Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) is a supplement containing organic sulphur and also reported to slow anatomical joint progressivity in the knee OA. The MSM is often combined with glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate. However, there are controversies whether glucosamine-chondroitin sulfate or their combination with methylsulfonylmethane could effectively reduce pain in OA. This study is aimed to compare clinical outcome of glucosamine-chondroitin sulfate (GC), glucosamine-chondroitin sulfate-methylsulfonylmethane (GCM), and placeboin patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) Kellgren-Lawrence grade I-II. Methods: a double blind, randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 147 patients with knee OA Kellgren-Lawrence grade I-II. Patients were allocated by permuted block randomization into three groups: GC (n=49), GCM (n=50), or placebo (n=48) groups. GC group received 1500 mg of glucosamine + 1200 mg of chondroitin sulfate + 500 mg of saccharumlactis; GCM group received 1500 mg of glucosamine + 1200 mg of chondroitin sulfate + 500 mg of MSM; while placebo group received three matching capsules of saccharumlactis. The drugs were administered once daily for 3 consecutive months VAS and WOMAC scores were measured before treatment, then at 4th, 8th and 12th week after treatment. Results: on statistical analysis it was found that at the 12th week, there are significant difference between three treatment groups on the WOMAC score (p=0.03) and on the VAS score (p=0.004). When analyzed between weeks, GCM treatment group was found statistically significant on WOMAC score (p=0.01) and VAS score (p

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Europe PMC is an archive of life sciences journal literature.

Conjugation of D-glucosamine with lipophilic moiety can ease its application in surface modification of liposomes. Interestingly, although D-glucosamine is safe, studies have shed light on “toxic effect” of its conjugates on cancer cells and highlighted its application in targeting glioma. However, understanding the safety of such conjugates for local delivery to the brain is unavailable. Herein, after successful synthesis of D-glucosamine conjugate (GC), the toxicity of functionalized liposome was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. The study revealed a significant effect on cytotoxicity and apoptosis in vitro as assessed on grade IV-resistant glioma cell lines, SF268, U87MG, using MTT assay and PI staining. Additionally, this effect was not observed on normal human erythrocytes in the hemolysis assay. Furthermore, we demonstrated that GC liposomes were non-toxic to the normal brain tissues of healthy Sprague-Dawley rats. Successful functionalization yielded liposome with uniform particle size, stability, and cellular uptake. With

Background The most important limitations of morphine in pain therapy are its tolerance and dependence. In this study, we evaluated the protective effect of glucosamine against morphine-induced tolerance and dependence in mice. Methods Mice received twice daily morphine (20 mg/kg, s.c.) alone, or along with orally administered glucosamine (500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg), for 9 continuous days. To assess antinociceptive effect of morphine, percentage of maximal possible effect (%MPE) of animals exposed to thermal stimulus was measured in the hot plate test, 30 min after morphine administration. Test was performed on days 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. The effect of glucosamine on the naloxone (5 mg/kg, i.p.)-precipitated morphine withdrawal, was also evaluated. Changes in brain gene expression levels of induced nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), enzyme responsible for nitric oxide generation, as well as pro-inflammatory mediator, tumor necrosis alpha (TNF-α) were measured in morphine tolerated animals, as well as after withdrawal by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Protein content of TNF-α was evaluated via ELISA assay. Results Tolerance to antinociceptive effect of morphine was developed after 7 days of morphine treatment. The concurrent administration of glucosamine (500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg) with morphine, significantly inhibited tolerance development, on days 7 and 9. In addition, glucosamine ameliorated the naloxone-precipitated opioid withdrawal symptoms (tremor, jumping, teeth chattering, grooming). However, diarrhea was significantly improved only with the dose of 500 mg/kg. Increased mRNA expression of iNOS as well as TNF-α mRNA expression and protein, after both morphine tolerance and withdrawal, were considerably reduced by glucosamine (1000 mg/kg) in the morphine withdrawal animals. Conclusion These data support the utility of glucosamine in attenuating both tolerance to nociceptive effects of morphine as well as withdrawal-induced behavioral profile. Anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects are responsible, at least in part, for the protective effects of this drug.

Aim The aim was to study whether oral glucosamine hydrochloride (GlcN.HCl) or mucopolysaccharide protein (MucoP) has a structure-modifying effect on an anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) ...

Background: Glucosamine sulphate (GS) is essential in the biosynthesis of glycolipids, glycoproteins, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), hyaluronate, and proteoglycans. Connective tissues primarily contain collagen and proteoglycans and play an important role in skin ageing. Objective: The objectives were to assess ex vivo the impact of GS on skin ageing p