Structural and functional characterization of oversulfated chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate hybrid chains from the notochord of hagfish. Neuritogenic and binding activities for growth factors and neurotrophic factors.

Oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (CS)/dermatan sulfate (DS) hybrid chains were purified from the notochord of hagfish. The chains (previously named CS-H for hagfish) have an average molecular mass of 18 kDa. Composition analysis using various chondroitinases demonstrated a variety of D-glucuronic acid (GlcUA)- and L-iduronic acid (IdoUA)-containing disaccharides variably sulfated with a higher proportion of GlcUA/IdoUA-GalNAc 4,6-O-disulfate, revealing complex CS/DS hybrid features. The hybrid chains showed neurite outgrowth-promoting activity of an axonic nature, which resembled the activity of squid cartilage CS-E and which was abolished fully by chondroitinase ABC digestion and partially by chondroitinase AC-I or B digestion, suggesting the involvement of both GlcUA and IdoUA in neuritogenic activity. Purified CS-H exhibited interactions in a BIAcore system with various heparin-binding proteins and neurotrophic factors (viz. fibroblast growth factor-2, -10, -16, and -18; midkine; pleiotrophin; heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor; vascular endothelial growth factor; brain-derived neurotrophic factor; and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor), most of which are expressed in the brain, although fibroblast growth factor-1 and ciliary neurotrophic factor showed no binding. Kinetic analysis revealed high affinity binding of these growth factors and, for the first time, of the neurotrophic factors. Competitive inhibition revealed the involvement of both IdoUA and GlcUA in the binding of these growth factors, suggesting the importance of the hybrid nature of CS-H for the efficient binding of these growth factors. These findings, together with those from the recent analysis of brain CS/DS chains from neonatal mouse and embryonic pig (Bao, X., Nishimura, S., Mikami, T., Yamada, S., Itoh, N., and Sugahara, K. (2004) J. Biol. Chem. 279, 9765-9776), suggest physiological roles of the hybrid chains in the development of the brain.