A QCM study of strong carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions of glycopolymers carrying mannosides on substrates.

Carbohydrates on cell surfaces are known to interact not only with lectins but also with other carbohydrates; the latter process is known as a carbohydrate-carbohydrate interaction. Such interactions are observed in complex oligosaccharides. It would be surprising if these interactions were observed in simple monosaccharides of mannose. In this study, the interaction between glycopolymers carrying monosaccharides of mannose was quantitatively investigated by quartz crystal microbalance measurements. We measured the interactions with glycopolymers carrying mannose, galactose and glucose. Surprisingly, the interaction between the glycopolymers and mannose was much stronger than that between other saccharides.