Glycosaminoglycans from chicken muscular stomach or gizzard.

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) were prepared from the muscular stomach or gizzard of the chicken. The content of GAGs on a dry weight basis contains 0.4 wt.% a typical value observed for a muscle tissue. The major GAG components were chondroitin-6-sulfate and chondroitin-4-sulfate (~64 %) of molecular weight 21-22 kDa. Hyaluronan (~24 %) had a molecular weight 120 kDa. Smaller amounts (12 %) of heparan sulfate was also present which was made of more highly sulfated chains of molecular weight of 21-22 kDa and a less sulfated low molecular weight (< 10 kDa) heterogeneous partially degraded heparan sulfate. Chicken gizzard represents an inexpensive and readily available source of muscle tissue-derived GAGs.