Mucopolysaccharides play a major role in the structural integrity of all body tissues and are large responsibility for the form and organization of human system as components of connective tissue.
This polysaccharides chain containing both acidic and amino sugars and also are referred to as acidic mucopolysaccharides, glycosaminoglycans, or when linked to protein, proteoglycans.
Most of mucopolysaccharides are probably synthesized by fibroblasts in the vascular wall. Mucopolysaccharides are often classified as a group of glycoproteins. Mucopolysaccharides differ from typical glycoproteins in that they contain long polysaccharide chains made up of about 100 monosaccharides units.
Mucopolysaccharides typically consist of a protein core to which many long chain linear heteropolysaccharides are covalently linked.
When there is a disruption in mucopolysaccharides metabolism, the resulting diseases include various defects of bone, cartilage and connective tissue.
Mucopolysaccharides in human body
