scholarly journals The nature of the non-ultrafilterable glycosaminoglycans of normal human urine

1971 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Wessler

1. The non-ultrafilterable acidic glycosaminoglycans from pooled urine of normal men, aged about 20, were isolated and characterized. The isolation procedure included digestion with sialidase and pronase, and fractionation by stepwise elution from an ECTEOLA-cellulose column. The glycosaminoglycans in each fraction were separated from each other by preparative electrophoresis in sodium barbital buffer and in barium acetate. 2. Approximate relative amounts of the different glycosaminoglycans were: chondroitin sulphate 60%, chondroitin 2%, hyaluronic acid 4%, dermatan sulphate 1%, heparan sulphate 15% and keratan sulphate 18%. Chondroitin sulphate–dermatan sulphate hybrids seemed to occur in trace amounts. 3. Chondroitin sulphate, heparan sulphate and keratan sulphate were heterogeneous with respect to degree of sulphation. Two distinct groups of chondroitin sulphate fractions were found, with sulphate/hexosamine molar ratios of about 0.5 and 1 respectively. The sulphate/hexosamine molar ratios in the heparan sulphate fractions varied from 0.5 to 0.9; the N-sulphate/hexosamine ratio was about 0.5 in all fractions. The sulphate/hexosamine molar ratios in the keratan sulphate fractions varied from 0.2 to 0.7.

1971 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. 883-894 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. Dean ◽  
Helen Muir ◽  
R. J. F. Ewins

Glycosaminoglycans were isolated from the urine of three patients with Hurler's, Hunter's and Morquio's syndromes and also from the liver and spleen of the case of Hurler's syndrome by a procedure avoiding further degradation. A method of determining the proportions of dermatan sulphate, heparan sulphate and chondroitin sulphate in each preparation is described. The relative proportions of these glycosaminoglycans in the urine and organs of the case of Hurler's syndrome were very similar. Glycosaminoglycans from the organs were of much lower molecular weight than normal, consisting of single chains of molecular weight about 5000 together with multiples of up to four such chains attached to peptide moieties. The linkage region normally attaching glycosaminoglycan chains to protein in whole protein–polysaccharides of connective tissue was degraded progressively towards serine. The total output and relative proportions of abnormal glycosaminoglycans in the urine were compared in two brothers with Hunter's syndrome examined on two occasions 4 years apart. At comparable ages they excreted about the same amount, and the relative proportions of each glycosaminoglycan remained essentially constant. The composition and chromatographic behaviour of the glycosaminoglycan in the urine from the case of Morquio's syndrome indicated that it consisted of material containing about one-third keratan sulphate and two-thirds chondroitin sulphate as part of the same molecule, as in proteoglycans of cartilage. The total output of glycosaminoglycans, although higher than normal, was considerably less than in other types of Mucopolysaccharidoses.


Author(s):  
Chika Ogura ◽  
Kazumi Hirano ◽  
Shuji Mizumoto ◽  
Shuhei Yamada ◽  
Shoko Nishihara

Abstract Dermatan sulphate (DS), a glycosaminoglycan, is present in the extracellular matrix and on the cell surface. Previously, we showed that heparan sulphate plays a key role in the maintenance of the undifferentiated state in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) and in the regulation of their differentiation. Chondroitin sulphate has also been to be important for pluripotency and differentiation of mESCs. Keratan sulphate is a marker of human pluripotent stem cells. To date, however, the function of DS in mESCs has not been clarified. Dermatan 4 sulfotransferase 1, which transfers sulphate to the C-4 hydroxyl group of N-acetylgalactosamine of DS, contributes to neuronal differentiation of mouse neural progenitor cells. Therefore, we anticipated that neuronal differentiation would be induced in mESCs in culture by the addition of DS. To test this expectation, we investigated neuronal differentiation in mESCs and human neural stem cells (hNSCs) cultures containing DS. In mESCs, DS promoted neuronal differentiation by activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and also accelerated neurite outgrowth. In hNSCs, DS promoted neuronal differentiation and neuronal migration, but not neurite outgrowth. Thus, DS promotes neuronal differentiation in both mouse and human stem cells, suggesting that it offers a novel method for efficiently inducing neuronal differentiation.


Zygote ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.-S. Bergqvist ◽  
J. Ballester ◽  
A. Johannisson ◽  
N. Lundeheim ◽  
H. Rodríguez-Martínez

SummaryGlycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are present in the oviduct in which the major part of sperm capacitation occurs. In this study we have tested how capacitation of frozen-thawed bull spermatozoa is effected by exposure to different GAGs detectable or possibly present in oviductal fluid; i.e. heparin, hyaluronan, heparan sulphate, dermatan sulphate and chondroitin sulphate. Following exposure of different duration, the spermatozoa were stained with either Chlortetracycline (CTC) or merocyanine-540 and evaluated with epifluorescent light microscopy or flow cytometry, respectively. Heparin elicited a significant increase in the number of alive, capacitated spermatozoa, either expressed as higher merocyanine-540 fluorescence (p < 0.0001) or as B-pattern (p = 0.0021) in the CTC assay, during 4 h of incubation. When comparing the different GAG treatments one by one to the negative control in the flow cytometric study, only heparin and dermatan sulphate were significant (p < 0.0001) higher than the control at 0–30 min of incubation. Duration of incubation did not affect the proportion of capacitated spermatozoa when measured as merocyanine-540 fluorescence or CTC B-pattern, but the length of the incubation did affect the number of dead (Yo-PRO 1 positive) spermatozoa (p < 0.0001). Exposure to zona pellucida proteins significantly increased the proportion of acrosome reacted spermatozoa (p = 0.016). Both heparin and dermatan sulphate induce capacitation of frozen-thawed bull spermatozoa in vitro.


1976 ◽  
Vol 157 (3) ◽  
pp. 753-763 ◽  
Author(s):  
R H Pearce ◽  
B J Grimmer

Proteoglycan was prepared from three pools of normal human intervertebral discs by extraction with buffered 4M-guanidinium chloride followed by CsCl-density-gradient ultracentrifugation. Chromatography on agarose (Bio-Gel A-150m) and on DEAE-cellulose suggested a single polydisperse proteoglycan species. The intrinsic viscosities of three preparations were 166, 122 and 168 ml/g. After degradation with 0.5M-KOH containing 0.02M-NaBH4, the glycosaminoglycans were recovered quantitatively and their Ca2+ salts separated into a hexuronate-rich fraction (fraction 1), which was precipitated in 0-45% (v/v) ethanol, and a hexose-rich fraction (fraction2), which was precipitated in 45-70% (v/v) ethanol. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the glycosaminoglycans revealed fraction 1 to be chondroitin sulphate, and fraction 2 to be keratan sulphate; the latter was contaminated with protein and possibly a small amount of another glycosaminoglycan. For both glycosaminoglycans, plots of log(mol.wt.) against weight fell close to a normal distribution. The mode for chondroitin sulphate was close to 20000; that for keratan sulphate, 10000. A threefold range of molecular weight included the central 16-84% [+/- 1 S.D. of log(mol.wt.)] of the weight of both fractions.


1980 ◽  
Vol 188 (3) ◽  
pp. 769-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Edward ◽  
W F Long ◽  
H H Watson ◽  
F B Williamson

The total weight percentage glycosaminoglycan content of rat liber was found to increase by 50% in the first 30 h after partial hepatectomy. The content returned to near normal by the third day, but then increased again to a second maximum at 5-6 days, only to gradually decline to normal by the ninth day, when regeneration was nearly complete. This biphasic pattern was most marked in the chondroitin sulphate A/C component, with a 6-fold increase by the sixth day. Dermatan sulphate showed the same temporal trend, whereas heparan sulphate remained relatively unaltered. No such changes were detected in the livers of rats subjected to sham operation. The possible molecular mechanisms underlying the apparent link between cellular glycosaminoglycan content and proliferative tendency are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evellin Balbinot-Alfaro ◽  
Meritaine da Rocha ◽  
Alexandre da Trindade Alfaro ◽  
Vilásia Guimarães Martins

ABSTRACT: Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are long-chain polysaccharides that are divided into sulphates and non-sulphates, these being chondroitin sulphate, heparan sulphate, dermatan sulphate, heparin sulphate and the only non-sulphate in the group is hyaluronic acid. GAGs are obtained from animal tissue and by an expensive low-yield extraction process; however, they are highly commercially valued polysaccharides and exploited in the biomedical market. Their disaccharidic composition, chain length and sulfation pattern present great variability depending on the species and extraction factors. GAGs possess immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, antiproliferative and anticoagulant properties, functioning as therapeutic agents modulating an array of biological processes. This report presents the general aspects of each GAG, source and extraction process, in addition to the characteristics that give them the most varied therapeutic properties and pharmacological applications.


1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 325-338
Author(s):  
K.W. Brown ◽  
E.K. Parkinson

[3H]glucosamine has been used to label metabolically keratinocyte cell-surface glycoconjugates. The major labelled bands identified on sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gels had apparent molecular weights of greater than 250 000, and 150 000-80 000. Most of these components were trypsin-sensitive, indicating that the label was protein-bound. Some of the labelled components were shown to be proteoglycans and the labelled glycosaminoglycans released from them by trypsin were identified as hyaluronic acid (54%), heparan sulphate (33%) and chondroitin sulphate (13%). Specific immunological methods (immunoperoxidase staining and immunoprecipitation) showed that keratinocytes produced fibronectin. Immunoperoxidase staining showed keratinocytes produce only small ‘stitches’ of fibronectin at cell edges; no large fibrils were seen nor any staining over or between cells.


1981 ◽  
Vol 197 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
P J Roughley ◽  
D McNicol ◽  
V Santer ◽  
J Buckwalter

Proteoglycans were extracted from the adult human meniscus under dissociative conditions and purified by CsCl-density-gradient centrifugation. The preparations of highest density contained proteoglycan that possessed the ability to interact with hyaluronic acid, was of large subunit size and was composed of chondroitin sulphate, keratan sulphate and sialic acid-containing oligosaccharides. This ‘cartilage-like’ proteoglycan also exhibited subunit and aggregate structures analogous to those of hyaline-cartilage proteoglycans when examined by electron microscopy. However, the composition of this proteoglycan was more comparable with proteoglycans from immature cartilage than from age-matched cartilage. The preparations from lower density, which were enriched in dermatan sulphate, contained smaller proteoglycan that was not able to interact with hyaluronic acid. This non-aggregating proteoglycan may be structurally distinct from the ‘cartilage-like’ proteoglycan, which does not contain dermatan sulphate.


1971 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.-H. Iverius

1. Heparin, heparan sulphate, chondroitin sulphate and dermatan sulphate were covalently attached to beads of agarose activated by cyanogen bromide. The bond is probably mediated by the amino group of a serine or peptide residue at the reducing end of the polysaccharide chain. 2. The uptake of glycosaminoglycan during the coupling procedure is about 0.9mg/ml of wet gel. However, direct analysis of washed and freeze-dried gels reveals that only about one-third of this amount is firmly attached to the gel. 3. The use of the gels for polysaccharidase analyses is exemplified by a hyaluronidase assay. Further applications, e.g. interaction studies and preparative purposes, are discussed.


1982 ◽  
Vol 207 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
J E Scott ◽  
F Heatley

Two simple methods for dissolving salts of acid glycosaminoglycans with inorganic cations (e.g. Li+ and Na+) in dry dimethyl sulphoxide are described. Complete n.m.r. spectra of, e.g., Na+ and Li+ salts of chondroitin sulphate and keratan sulphate were obtained on these solutions. In [2H6]dimethyl sulphoxide the NH resonance of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy hexosides is in the range 7.2-8.0 delta, but is downfield (8.3-9.3 delta) when the NH is H-bonded to -CO2-. Heparan sulphate shows two NH resonances, of which one (at 8.3 delta) is probably indicative of H-bonding. Space-filling models show that a very close approach of NH to -CO2- across the alpha-glucosaminidic bond is possible, and a solution configuration for heparan sulphate is proposed. The n.m.r. results are entirely compatible with interpretations of periodate-oxidation kinetics, based on H-bonded secondary structures present in hyaluronate and chondroitin sulphates, but not in dermatan (or keratan) sulphate.


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