Glycogen from oyster

The Pacific oyster/Crassostrea gigas is a vital marine fishery resource. 20-40% of the dry weight of an oyster accounts for glycogen. High levels of glycogen contribute to the flavor, quality, and hardiness of the oyster.

Glycogen is a branched polymer of glucose synthesized by animal cells for energy storage and release. It is constructed of predominantly α1→4 glycosidic bonds with branches created through α1→6 glycosidic bonds.

Glycogen, a polysaccharide of glucose, serves as the primary storage of glucose in the body and functions as a vital energy reserve in both fungi and animals. With its multibranched structure, glycogen is a secondary long-term energy storage molecule, similar to starch, and closely related to amylopectin, playing a pivotal role in energy storage and release and existing as granules in the cytoplasm.
In research, glycogen is commonly employed to investigate carbohydrate storage, metabolism, and enzyme characterization. Serving as an inert carrier, it significantly enhances the efficiency of DNA and RNA extraction through ethanol precipitation. Its versatility proves valuable in unraveling the intricate details of the glucose cycle, contributing to advancements in diverse areas of physiological, nutritional, biochemical, and cell biology research.

Glycogen from oyster has been used:

• as a component in acrylamide slab gels to perform branching enzyme activity staining for quantifying ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) activity
• as a sterile inflammatory agent for inoculating into mice for obtaining peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) and to study its effects on the metabolic functions of macrophages
• as a primer for supplementing maleate buffer for amylosucrase assay to measure the activities of the glutathione S-transferase (GST-AS) amylosucrase fusion protein and the purification fractions
• as a supplement in PreScission buffer to perform polymer synthesis reaction

Oyster glycogen has been used to induce inflammation and to promote extravasation of granulocytes and neutrophils in animal models after intraperitoneal injection. Glycogen also acts as a vascular permeability probe.

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