What is the Origin of Inositolphosphoglycan?

The concept of inositolphosphoglycans as insulin mediators arose from research in the 1980s that sought to understand the intracellular mechanism of insulin action after receptor binding. The name is descriptive of its chemical components, combining inositol, a sugar alcohol, with phosphate and glycan, a general term for polysaccharides or carbohydrates.

What is the Mechanism of Inositolphosphoglycan?

When insulin binds to its receptor, it stimulates the hydrolysis of glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol lipids located on the outer cell membrane via a specific phospholipase C enzyme. This cleavage releases two distinct IPG mediators into the cell cytoplasm. These mediators, including those containing myo-inositol or D-chiro-inositol, then activate or inhibit various key enzymes involved in glucose and lipid metabolism, essentially mimicking and propagating certain insulin effects from the cell surface to the interior.

Inositolphosphoglycan

Meaning

Inositolphosphoglycan, often abbreviated as IPG, refers to a family of carbohydrate-phosphate-lipid molecules that function as intracellular signaling mediators. These compounds are proposed to act as second messengers in specific signal transduction pathways, most notably those initiated by the binding of insulin to its cell surface receptor. They play a significant, albeit complex, role in metabolic and hormonal regulation.