Glycosaminoglycans on the surface of the human urothelium: A preliminary report

Abstract

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are thought to be present in the mucous surface coat of the human urinary bladder and to play a role in the environmental adaptation of the bladder urothelium. A defective mucous surface coat might be involved in the pathogenesis of painful bladder disease (interstitial cystitis) of unknown etiology. By a new cystoscopic scraping method for obtaining the mucous surface coat of the bladder, we investigated four painful bladder patients and three controls (prostatic hypertrophy). Electrophoretic analysis of the surface coat revealed differences in the biochemical GAG-composition of the surface coat between patients and controls. This preliminary study suggests the existence of GAGs in the mucous surface coat of the bladder and suggests that qualitative differences in the GAG composition might play a role in painful bladder disease.

Distinctive Ultrastructural Pathology of Nonulcerative Interstitial Cystitis

“…The central premise of this postu late, that a discrete surface GAG layer is the barrier to permeability in normal urothelium [59,60], was derived primarily from animal experiments on bacterial adher ence to urothelium, involving instillation of strong irri tant chemicals into the bladder [61][62][63][64][65], Some have advo cated a qualitative rather than a quantitative change in GAG layer in IC [66][67][68], It is true that the normal urothelium of animals and man has a tenuous (60-80 nm thick) 'mucinous' surface coat that is distinctly different from glycocalyx of intes tine and can be demonstrated by appropriate special staining of light or electron microscopic preparations [69][70][71][72], Nonetheless, the postulate of deficiency of surface GAG as the primary pathogenetic factor in IC remains open to question, for the following reasons.…”

Autorosette Inhibition Factor: A Positive Acute Phase Reactant in Interstitial Cystitis

“…A defective barrier function of the bladder epithelium has been suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis in IC [17]. Although electron microscopic studies with Ru thenium red have failed to show differences in the mor phologic appearance of the GAG layer between patients with IC and controls [18], a recent electrophoretic study indicates differences in the biochemical composition of GAGs [19].…”

Ultrastructural study of an antibody-stabilized bladder surface: a new perspective on the elusive glycosaminoglycan layer

“…A study with lectin probes [19] showed that carbohydrate terminals of the bladder surface GAG are unchanged in patients with IC but that the biochemical composition of the different GAGs are altered (more galactose and fucose) in IC patients. Scraping the mucous surface coat of the bladder demonstrated further qualitative differences in the GAG composition between IC patients and controls [6]. The IC patients appeared to have a higher percentage of hyaluronic acid and dermatan sulfate than did the controls.…”