Essential Components of Antimicrobial Gastrointestinal Epithelial Barrier: Specific Interaction of Mucin with an Integral Apical Membrane Protein of Gastric Mucosa

Abstract

The study of carbohydrate ligands for MBP revealed binding of octa- and decasaccharides of gastric mucin. The severe impairment in mucin adhesion to MBP, induced by the diet containing ethanol, supports the conclusion that specific carbohydrate determinants participate in mucin attachment to MBP and epigenetic control of the processes that coordinates its interaction with apical mucosal epithelium in the formation of innate protective barrier.