Myocardial glycoproteins in diabetes: type VI collagen is a major PAS-reactive extracellular matrix protein

An investigation of myocardial glycoproteins was undertaken to elucidate the molecules responsible for the periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) reactivity of the increased extracellular matrix of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Perfusion with radiolabeled mannose indicated an enhanced formation of matrix components in the diabetic compared to the normal rat heart. Electrophoretic separation of radiolabeled extracts demonstrated the presence of glycoproteins with Mr values of 205, 142 and 90 kDa which could be separated by Bio-Gel A-5 m filtration. Fractionation of non-perfused hearts resulted in the isolation of only the 205 and 142 kDa components, which were shown by amino acid analyses and collagenase digestion to belong to the collagen family of proteins and by immunoblotting to represent type VI collagen. The carbohydrate content of these rat myocardial type VI collagen subunits, determined from monosaccharide analyses, was 11 and 12%, respectively, and N-glycanase digestion of the 142 kDa chain resulted in a decrease in size of approximately 14 kDa, indicating the presence of asparagine-linked units. Examination of normal and diabetic rat heart sections indicated that the latter contained abundant PAS-positive strands and nodules which corresponded to the distribution of anti type VI collagen reactivity. Moreover, immunoblots showed higher levels of Type VI collagen in diabetic than in normal heart extracts. Type VI collagen therefore appears to represent a major glycoprotein of myocardial extracellular matrix and to be implicated in diabetic cardiomyopathy.