Electrophoresis and detection of nanogram quantities of exogenous and endogenous glycosaminoglycans in biological fluids.

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) including chondroitin sulfate, dermatan sulfate, heparan sulfate, heparin, and keratan sulfate types I (corneal) and II (cartilage) added to buffer, plasma and urine were enzymatically depolymerized. Enzymes, including chondroitin ABC lyase (chondroitinase ABC), heparin lyase (heparinase), heparan sulfate lyase (heparitinase), endo-beta-galactosidase and keratanase were used to depolymerize each GAG. Depolymerized GAGs and GAG mixtures were fractionated using gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Staining with alcian blue dye resulted in a distinctive and well resolved banding pattern for each GAG. When these same gels were silver stained, an increase in detection sensitivity of 1000-fold was obtained. Picogram quantities of an oligosaccharide standard in buffer could be detected with silver staining while nanogram quantities could be detected in urine or plasma. The banding pattern observed for each depolymerized GAG was well resolved from contaminants found in these biological fluids and from intact GAGs. Endogenous GAGs present in samples of human urine and plasma were first concentrated and then enzymatically depolymerized. Chondroitin or dermatan sulfates, heparan sulfate and keratan sulfate were each detected in both concentrated plasma and urine samples.