Effect of oat and barley β-glucans on inhibition of cytokine-induced adhesion molecule expression in human aortic endothelial cells: Molecular structure–function relations

Abstract Endothelial cell adhesion molecules have been recognized as an early step in inflammation and atherogenesis. The inhibition of TNF-α-induced expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1) and intracellular cell adhesion molecule (ICAM-1) in human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC), following pretreatment with mixed-linkage (1 → 3), (1 → 4)-β- d -glucans (β-glucans) isolated from oat and barley, and the possible molecular structure–function relations, have been explored. The apparent molecular weight (Mw) of β-glucans varied in the ranges of 0.71–2.42 × 10 5 (barley) and 0.36–2.55 × 10 5 (oat); a higher ratio of 3-O-β-cellobiosyl- d -glucose to 3-O-β-cellotriosyl- d -glucose oligomers in the polymeric chains was also found for barley β-glucans. Analysis of variance showed that polysaccharide concentration, Mw and fine structure of β-glucans affected the VCAM-1 expression ( P  6.25 μg/ml ( P 5 . Instead, the expression of ICAM-1 was suppressed ( P 100 μg/ml), with maximum activity at Mw ∼2.50 × 10 5 . Structural differences between the oat and barley β-glucans did to seem to influence the ICAM-1 expression.