Preliminary observations on the synthesis of glycosaminoglycans in the sea urchin embryo.

A method based on the degradation by enzymes and nitrous acid of isotopically labelled glycosaminoglycans has been employed to study the synthesis of these compounds in normal, animalized and vegetalized sea urchin embryos. According to standard criteria, these organisms synthesize dermatan sulfate, heparan sulfate, hyaluronate and keratan sulfate. The hyaluronate seems to be slightly sulfated, it may thus be mucoitin sulfate. The preliminary results obtained suggest a conspicuous difference between animalized and vegetalized embryos: the synthesis of dermatan sulfate is suppressed in the former, while proceeding normally in the latter. The synthesis of heparan sulfate is not affected by our experimental conditions, but the isotope incorporation in hyaluronate and in keratan sulfate is decreased, more in the vegetalized than in the animalized embryos.