Discipline: Chemistry and Chemical Sciences
Subcategory: Cell and Molecular Biology
Session: 4
Room: Coolidge
Joshua M. Patterson - Delaware State University
Co-Author(s): Cherese Winstead , Delaware State University, Delaware; Kimberly Milligan, Delaware State University, Delaware
Crohn’s Disease is an Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) marked by chronic constipation, diarrhea, inflammation, and other harsh medical manifestations. One such manifestation is leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut, also known as increased intestinal permeability, is a digestive condition in which bacteria and toxins are able to ‘leak’ through the intestinal wall due to damaged intestinal epithelial cells. To repair themselves, these cells need an increased amount of acetyl-galactosamine, which is produced from glucosamine. We hypothesize that the in vitro synthesis of acetyl-glucosamine phosphate will facilitate greater epithelial cellular repair as compared to commercial glucosamine products. Polymerized N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (Chitin) was phosphorylated by the addition of ortho-phosphoric acid in the presence of urea and dimethylformamide (DMF). Ascorbic acid was then added to the new molecule. NMR and FT-IR were used to characterize the molecule. Lightly damaged cells were then grown in the presence of Phosphorylated Acetyl-glucosamine (P-AGlcn), unphosphorylated acetyl-glucosamine (AGlcn) and control. We expect to have a percent yield of 65% of P-AGlcn with a phosphorous content of 2.48%. We expect the cells grown in the P-AGlcn supplemented medium to recover faster and grow better than the control and AGlcn group. Cells use less energy in the conversion of P-AGlcn to actyl-galactosamine (AGal) than they do in using AGlcn via the citric acid cycle. This usage of less energy allows more AGal to be created, facilitating in greater repair of the cell. In the future, we plan on testing this experiment out in in vivo mouse models. References: Sakaguchi, T, et al. Adsorption of Uranium by Chitin Phosphate and Chitosan Phosphate. Agric. Biol. Chem., 45 (10), 1981, 2191-2195.
Deters, A., et al. N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine Oligosaccharides induce Mucin Secretion from Colonic Tissue and Induce Differentiation of Human Keratinocytes. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 60, 2008, 197-204. Stockley, J., et al. Surpassing light-induced cell damage in vitro with novel cell culture media. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 2017, 3849-860.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): LSAMP BD: Delaware State University / Greater Philadelphia Region Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Philadelphia AMP) NSF Award Number 1810609
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Cherese Winstead, cwinstead@desu.edu
Role: I conducted all parts of this experiment.