Skip to main content
PMC home page
Biochemical Journal logoLink to Biochemical Journal
. 1981 Jan 1;193(1):295–299. doi: 10.1042/bj1930295

Comparative studies on amniotic fluid and plasma fibronectins.

E Ruoslahti, E Engvall, E G Hayman, R G Spiro
PMCID: PMC1162602  PMID: 7305927

Abstract

Human fibronectin was isolated from second-trimester amniotic fluid, from amniotic fluid obtained at term and from adult plasma. The amniotic-fluid fibronectins had a slightly higher apparent molecular weight on sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis than the plasma fibronectin. Early- and late-amniotic-fluid fibronectin had 9.5 and 9.6% carbohydrate respectively, whereas plasma fibronectin had 5.8%. The amniotic-fluid fibronectins had similar mannose and sialic acid contents to plasma fibronectin, but greater amounts of glucosamine, galactosamine, galactose and fucose. There were no detectable differences in the amino-acid composition of amniotic-fluid and plasma fibronectins, and the patterns of peptides obtained after tryptic digestion of fibronectin from the two sources showed extensive similarities. Fibronectins from plasma and amniotic fluid were equally active in promoting cell attachment and were immunologically indistinguishable. These results show that fibronectin from amniotic fluid is more heavily glycosylated than plasma fibronectin or previously analysed fibronectins from cultured fibroblasts. The observed differences in glycosylation may be related to cell type and/or stage of development.

Full text

PDF
297

Images in this article

297Fig. 2.
on p.297

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Alitalo K., Kurkinen M., Vaheri A., Krieg T., Timpl R. Extracellular matrix components synthesized by human amniotic epithelial cells in culture. Cell. 1980 Apr;19(4):1053–1062. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90096-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chen A. B., Mosesson M. W., Solish G. I. Identification of the cold-insoluble globulin of plasma in amniotic fluid. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1976 Aug 1;125(7):958–961. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(76)90495-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Crouch E., Balian G., Holbrook K., Duksin D., Bornstein P. Amniotic fluid fibronectin. Characterization and synthesis by cells in culture. J Cell Biol. 1978 Sep;78(3):701–715. doi: 10.1083/jcb.78.3.701. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Engvall E., Ruoslahti E. Binding of soluble form of fibroblast surface protein, fibronectin, to collagen. Int J Cancer. 1977 Jul 15;20(1):1–5. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910200102. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Engvall E., Ruoslahti E., Miller E. J. Affinity of fibronectin to collagens of different genetic types and to fibrinogen. J Exp Med. 1978 Jun 1;147(6):1584–1595. doi: 10.1084/jem.147.6.1584. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fukuda M., Hakomori S. Carbohydrate structure of galactoprotein a, a major transformation-sensitive glycoprotein released from hamster embryo fibroblasts. J Biol Chem. 1979 Jun 25;254(12):5451–5457. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Keski-Oja J., Mosher D. F., Vaheri A. Dimeric character of fibronectin, a major cell surface-associated glycoprotein. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1977 Jan 24;74(2):699–706. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(77)90359-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Krusius T., Finne J., Rauvala H. The poly(glycosyl) chains of glycoproteins. Characterisation of a novel type of glycoprotein saccharides from human erythrocyte membrane. Eur J Biochem. 1978 Dec 1;92(1):289–300. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1978.tb12747.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Olden K., Pratt R. M., Yamada K. M. Role of carbohydrate in biological function of the adhesive glycoprotein fibronectin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Jul;76(7):3343–3347. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.7.3343. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Ruoslahti E., Adamson E. Alpha-fetoproteins produced by the yolk sac and the liver are glycosylated differently. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1978 Dec 29;85(4):1622–1630. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(78)91189-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Ruoslahti E., Hayman E. G., Kuusela P., Shively J. E., Engvall E. Isolation of a tryptic fragment containing the collagen-binding site of plasma fibronectin. J Biol Chem. 1979 Jul 10;254(13):6054–6059. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Ruoslahti E., Hayman E. G. Two active sites with different characteristics in fibronectin. FEBS Lett. 1979 Jan 15;97(2):221–224. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(79)80088-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Ruoslahti E., Vuento M., Engvall E. Interaction of fibronectin with antibodies and collagen in radioimmunoassay. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1978 Jun 21;534(2):210–218. doi: 10.1016/0005-2795(78)90003-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Spiro R. G. Glycoproteins. Adv Protein Chem. 1973;27:349–467. doi: 10.1016/s0065-3233(08)60451-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Spiro R. G., Spiro M. J., Bhoyroo V. D. Lipid-saccharide intermediates in glycoprotein biosynthesis. II. Studies on the structure of an oligosaccharide-lipid from thyroid. J Biol Chem. 1976 Oct 25;251(20):6409–6419. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Takasaki S., Yamashita K., Suzuki K., Iwanaga S., Kobata A. The sugar chains of cold-insoluble globulin. A protein related to fibronectin. J Biol Chem. 1979 Sep 10;254(17):8548–8553. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Vuento M., Wrann M., Ruoslahti E. Similarity of fibronectins isolated from human plasma and spent fibroblast culture medium. FEBS Lett. 1977 Oct 15;82(2):227–231. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(77)80590-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. WARREN L. The thiobarbituric acid assay of sialic acids. J Biol Chem. 1959 Aug;234(8):1971–1975. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Warren L., Buck C. A., Tuszynski G. P. Glycopeptide changes and malignant transformation. A possible role for carbohydrate in malignant behavior. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1978 Sep 18;516(1):97–127. doi: 10.1016/0304-419x(78)90005-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Wrann M. Methylation analysis of the carbohydrate portion of fibronectin isolated from human plasma. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1978 Sep 14;84(1):269–274. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(78)90292-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Yamada K. M., Kennedy D. W. Fibroblast cellular and plasma fibronectins are similar but not identical. J Cell Biol. 1979 Feb;80(2):492–498. doi: 10.1083/jcb.80.2.492. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Yamada K. M., Schlesinger D. H., Kennedy D. W., Pastan I. Characterization of a major fibroblast cell surface glycoprotein. Biochemistry. 1977 Dec 13;16(25):5552–5559. doi: 10.1021/bi00644a025. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Biochemical Journal are provided here courtesy of The Biochemical Society

RESOURCES