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Glycosaminoglycans in urine from patients with various mucopolysaccharidoses were digested with chondroitin ABC lyase (EC 4.2.2.4) or chondroitin AC lyase (EC 4.2.2.5), then converted into fluorescent pyridylamino derivatives and analyzed by "high-performance" liquid chromatography. Chromatograms of the chondroitin ABC lyase digests of samples from nine patients with Hunter's syndrome all showed a major peak for unsaturated disaccharide-4-sulfate, derived from dermatan sulfate, and another specific but unidentified peak (peak x). All samples from patients with Hurler's and Scheie's syndromes contained another specific component (peak y), besides the disaccharide-4-sulfate. A sample from a patient with Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome showed peaks for N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfate and the disaccharide-4-sulfate, but neither peak x nor peak y. A sample from a patient with Morquio's disease showed a much higher ratio of the 6-sulfate to 4-sulfate than in other diseases, and N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate was detected. We tentatively identified peaks x and y as the pyridylamino derivatives of 2-O-sulfo-L-idosyluronic acid 4-O-sulfo-N-acetylgalactosamine and L-idosyluronic acid 4-O-sulfo-N-acetylgalactosamine, respectively. This method may be useful in differential diagnosis.

Whale heparin was partially digested with a purified heparinase and the oligosaccharide fractions with 8-20 monosaccharide units were isolated from the digest by gel filtration on Sephadex G-50, followed by affinity chromatography on a column of antithrombin III immobilized on Sepharose 4B. A marked difference in the inhibitory activity for thrombin in the presence of antithrombin III was observed between the high-affinity fractions for antithrombin III of octasaccharide approximately hexadecasaccharide and those of octadecasaccharide approximately eicosasaccharide. The disaccharide compositions of these hexadeca-, octadeca-, and eicosasaccharides were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography after digestion with a mixture of purified heparitinases 1 and 2 and heparinase. The analytical data indicated that the proportions of trisulfated disaccharide (IdUA(2S)alpha 1----4GlcNS(6S)) and disulfated disaccharide (UA1----4GlcNS(6S)) increased with the manifestation of high thrombin-inhibitory activity, while that of monosulfated disaccharide (UA1----4GlcNS) decreased. The present observations, together with those so far reported, suggest that the presence of the former structural elements, specifically IdUA(2S)alpha 1----4GlcNS(6S), as well as the antithrombin III-binding pentasaccharide at the proper positions in the molecules of whale heparin oligosaccharides is essential for the manifestation of high inhibitory activity for thrombin in the presence of antithrombin III. The structural bases for the manifestation of the anticoagulant activity of whale and porcine heparins and their oligosaccharides are also discussed.

A sensitive method was developed for the separation and quantitation of four unsaturated disaccharides (delta Di-0S, delta Di-4S, delta Di-6S, and delta Di-diS) by high performance liquid chromatography. The unsaturated disaccharides were coupled with a fluorescent compound, 2-aminopyridine. Complete separation of the resulting pyridylamino derivatives was achieved on a column of muBondapak-C18 with 8 mM KH2PO4-Na2HPO4 (pH 6.0)/methanol (30/l, by volume) as a mobile phase. There was a linear relationship between the fluorescence emission (peak height), and the amount of each authentic disaccharide used for the coupling reaction. This method was applied to analyze commercially available chondroitin sulfates A and C, dermatan sulfate, and urinary glycosaminoglycans obtained from patients with mucopolysaccharidosis after digestion with chondroitinases. The data indicated that the present method is useful for the separation and quantitation of nmol-pmol levels of the unsaturated disaccharides produced from chondroitin sulfate isomers by chondroitinases and can be used for their structural characterization.