Bisected N-acetylglucosamine residue of biantennary sugar chains and high-molecular-weight oligosaccharides of neuroblastoma cell membranes.

The carbohydrate moieties of glycoproteins in plasma membrane are known to correlate with the induction of cell differentiation in some kinds of cells. We investigated the asparagine-linked sugar chains of neuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma cell membranes. The acidic oligosaccharides were bi-, tri-, and tetraantennary complex-type sugar chains with Man alpha-->(Man alpha)Man beta-->GlcNAc beta-->(+/- Fuc alpha-->)GlcNAc as their cores. A comparative study of the oligosaccharides of these cells showed that the biantennary complex-type sugar chain with bisecting N-acetylglucosamine residues increased and high-molecular-weight oligosaccharides decreased in ganglioneuroma cells. It is suspected that asparagine-linked sugar chains correlate with the differentiation stage of neuroblastoma.