Dystroglycanopathy is a group of muscular dystrophy caused by abnormal glycosylation of dystroglycan. Dystroglycan is a cell membrane receptor of basement membrane molecules and synaptic molecules. The sugar chain abnormalities result in the disruption of dystroglycan-mediated linkage between the basement and cell membrane in the skeletal muscle. The sugar chain structure and modifying enzymes of dystroglycan have recently been identified, and the pathophysiological significance of dystroglycan sugar chains in various tissues has also been clarified. This mini-review introduces the latest findings on the mechanisms of dystroglycanopathy and the development of various treatment strategies.

β-Cells, which occupy a majority of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans, secrete insulin in response to the concentration of glucose in the blood, and other tissues and cells cannot compensate for their function. When these pancreatic β-cells are damaged, diabetes develops gradually through impaired glucose tolerance due to deficient insulin secretion. Many factors involved in insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells have been investigated in detail, but recently, heparan sulfate sugar chains have been found to be present in mouse pancreatic β-cells, and it has become clear that heparan sulfate is involved in maintaining the function of pancreatic β-cells. This mini review focuses on the role of heparan sulfate proteoglycan in pancreatic β-cells, including the findings obtained in the recent research conducted by the authors’ group.

Glycosylation procedure has long been categorized to one of the most delicate synthetic techniques in the field of organic chemistry, since it requires extremely dry and mild conditions, to prevent the decomposition of substrates, intermediates, and products as well as to activate only appropriate donor species. Although chemists have made great efforts to overcome the difficulty by brushing up their skills to carry out moisture-sensitive reactions and by developing numbers of acid-promoted glycosylation chemistry, there are still troublesome cases that cannot be addressed by human hands. To circumvent this dead-end situation, chemists turned their attention from training their own skills to the development of machinery which can conduct operations that human cannot. In this review, we introduced tools, currently applied and/or developed to facilitate chemical glycosylation reactions. We focused on brand-new results using electrochemical and microfluidic machinery, as well as a simple but useful apparatus, which have never been reviewed yet.

Dystroglycanopathy is a group of muscular dystrophy caused by abnormal glycosylation of dystroglycan. Dystroglycan is a cell membrane receptor of basement membrane molecules and synaptic molecules. The sugar chain abnormalities result in the disruption of dystroglycan-mediated linkage between the basement and cell membrane in the skeletal muscle. The sugar chain structure and modifying enzymes of dystroglycan have recently been identified, and the pathophysiological significance of dystroglycan sugar chains in various tissues has also been clarified. This mini-review introduces the latest findings on the mechanisms of dystroglycanopathy and the development of various treatment strategies.

β-Cells, which occupy a majority of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans, secrete insulin in response to the concentration of glucose in the blood, and other tissues and cells cannot compensate for their function. When these pancreatic β-cells are damaged, diabetes develops gradually through impaired glucose tolerance due to deficient insulin secretion. Many factors involved in insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells have been investigated in detail, but recently, heparan sulfate sugar chains have been found to be present in mouse pancreatic β-cells, and it has become clear that heparan sulfate is involved in maintaining the function of pancreatic β-cells. This mini review focuses on the role of heparan sulfate proteoglycan in pancreatic β-cells, including the findings obtained in the recent research conducted by the authors’ group.

Glycosylation procedure has long been categorized to one of the most delicate synthetic techniques in the field of organic chemistry, since it requires extremely dry and mild conditions, to prevent the decomposition of substrates, intermediates, and products as well as to activate only appropriate donor species. Although chemists have made great efforts to overcome the difficulty by brushing up their skills to carry out moisture-sensitive reactions and by developing numbers of acid-promoted glycosylation chemistry, there are still troublesome cases that cannot be addressed by human hands. To circumvent this dead-end situation, chemists turned their attention from training their own skills to the development of machinery which can conduct operations that human cannot. In this review, we introduced tools, currently applied and/or developed to facilitate chemical glycosylation reactions. We focused on brand-new results using electrochemical and microfluidic machinery, as well as a simple but useful apparatus, which have never been reviewed yet.