Acidic glycosaminoglycans in the ground substance in paranasal sinus diseases.

Acidic glycosaminoglycans (AGAG) in the normal maxillary sinus mucosae were analysed by electrophoretic separation and densitometric quantitation, and then compared with those in chronic maxillary sinusitis, nasal polyps and maxillary sinus cancer. The total amount of AGAG in the edematous maxillary sinusitis and nasal polyps increased significantly. Both increases were almost twice as large as the normal content. When the changes of each AGAG in the total amount were compared with the normal content, chondroitin sulfate A and C showed the most conspicuous increase, chondroitin sulfate B was rather stable and hyaluronic acid showed a roughly twofold increase, in all the tissues examined. The ratio of %hyaluronic acid divided by %chondroitin sllfate B increased the most in maxillary sinus cancer.