[On glycosaminoglycans (mucopolysaccharide) in a case of pulmonary fibrosis (author's transl)].

Glycosaminoglycans from a case of pulmonary fibrosis (desquamative interstitial pneumonia of usual type) was analyzed by means of proteolytic digestion, solvent fractionation, column chromatography on anion exchanger, electrophoresis and enzymatic digestion. The result suggested an increase in dermatan sulfate and possibly of heparan sulfate in the fibrotic lung as compared with the normal. It is preferable to take the samples for analysis from a freshly excised specimen of the lung, because there was a sign of degradation of glycosaminoglycan due to storage of the specimen in a solution of formalin.