Abstract:
The myelin sheath is a multilayered glycolipid enriched membrane that encircles and insulates axons. A carbohydrate-carbohydrate interaction (CCI) between the sugars galactose and 3-sulfo-galactose has been implicated in signal transduction in oligodendrocytes, myelin producing cells. I will describe the synthesis and characterization of carbohydrate coated fluorescent silica nanoparticles as a model system that can be used to study this CCI. The use of these nanoparticles to study CCI in oligodendrocytes, along with preliminary structure-function relationships, will be described.
