Sulfated glycosaminoglycans of cells grown in culture: dermatan sulfate disappearance in successive fibroblast subcultures.

Sulfated glycosaminoglycan content of primary cultures of guinea pig embryo fibroblast in reported. It is shown that changes of sulfated glycosaminoglycans occur in successive subcultures: 1) disappearance of dermatan sulfate and 2) a slight increase in the proportion of heparitin sulfate. The sulfated glycosaminoglycan composition of the mammalian cell established lines: VERO, SIRK, Hep-2, MK-2, BGM, IB-RS-11 (S6) and 3T6 is also reported. It is shown that chondroitin sulfate AC and/or heparitin sulfate are the main glycosaminoglycans of the established cell lines (except 3T6). A possible role of these glycosaminoglycans in cell biology is discussed.