Several new fishes can serve as alternatives to salmon
Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs), commonly obtained from salmon nasal cartilage, are a key ingredient of various health foods. As the popularity of health foods increases, scientists are searching for alternative sources of CSPGs. Now, researchers have analyzed the PGs and their CS structures in the head cartilage of 10 edible bony fishes, including sturgeons. Their findings point to several new fishes that can serve as alternatives to salmon as a source of CSPGs.
Aggrecan, a major component of proteoglycan (PG) having chondroitin sulfate (CS) in cartilaginous tissues, has become increasingly popular as an ingredient in health food. In fact, proteoglycans from salmon nasal cartilage demonstrate biological properties such as anti-ageing, inhibition of angiogenesis, and attenuation of inflammatory responses. Commercially available chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) have only been prepared from salmon nasal cartilage. Although the head cartilage was found in other edible bony fishes, there is little information on the composition of core proteins and their CS structures in the head cartilage.
Now, in a new study published in the International Journal of Biology Macromolecules, a team of Japanese researchers has found that composition of PGs and their CS structure in the skull of the Siberian sturgeon and Russian sturgeon were similar to that in the salmon nasal cartilage. In addition, they also found that aggrecan, a major CSPG in the cartilaginous tissue, was conserved in 10 bony fishes.
The researchers hope with further studies to evaluate the biological properties of sturgeon PG, bony fishes could become an important source for CS as well as PGs.
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