Glycosaminoglycans of human gingival epithelium and connective tissue.

The glycosaminoglycan (GAG) components of the proteoglycans (PG) in the epithelial and connective tissue extracellular compartments of human gingivae have been determined. Following proteolytic digestion of the separated tissues. GAG were identified electrophoretically. These were hyaluronic acid (HA), heparan sulfate (HS), dermatan sulfate (DS) and chondroitin-4 sulfate (ChS-4). Neither ChS-6 nor keratan sulfate (KS) was observed. Confirmation of the nature of the molecular species was obtained by the use of Streptomyces hyaluronidase, chondroitinase AC II and degradation with nitrous acid. Quantitatively, the major GAG component of the epithelial specimens was HS (59.6%), whilst DS (60.6%) constituted the major GAG of human gingival connective tissue.