Isolation and characterization of proteoglycans from porcine ovarian follicular fluid.

Monomer proteoglycan was isolated from porcine ovarian follicular fluid by isopycnic CsCl centrifugation in the presence of 4 M guanidine HCl and protease inhibitors. The elution profile of the D1 preparation on Sepharose 2B was similar to that of monomer proteoglycan from bovine nasal cartilage, indicating a similar molecular size. Follicular fluid proteoglycans consist of about 20% protein, 50% dermatan sulfate, and 20% oligosaccharides rich in sialic acid, galactose, mannose, glucosamine, and galactosamine. The amino acid composition of this proteoglycan is significantly different from that of cartilage proteoglycans, with a higher proportion of aspartic acid, threonine, and lysine, and lower amounts of proline and glycine. Alkali-released dermatan sulfate chains are larger on Sepharose 6B (average Mr = 56,000) than chondroitin sulfate chains from cartilage proteoglycans (average Mr = 25,000), and iduronic acid accounts for 9% of total hexuronic acid. Disaccharide units released by chondroitinase ABC consists of 67% 4-sulfated, 22% 6-sulfated, 5% non-sulfated, and 5% disulfated disaccharides. After treatment with 0.05 M NaOH, 1 M NaBH4 at 45 degrees C for 24 h, two major sialic acid-containing oligosaccharides were observed on Sephadex G-25, corresponding to penta- and hexasaccharides. The pentasaccharide contained sialic acid, galactose, glucosamine, and galactosamine in the proportions 1:2:1:1. The galactosamine is O-glycosidically linked to the protein core. This oligosaccharide accounts for approximately 77% of all the sialic acid in the follicular fluid proteoglycans. The hexasaccharide fraction contained sialic acid, galactose, mannose, and glucosamine in the proportions 1:2:1:2. It also contained a small amount of fucose and galactosamine. The linkage of these oligosaccharides to the protein core remains to be determined. The follicular fluid proteoglycans, unlike those from cartilage, do not interact with hyaluronic acid. Digestion with trypsin, chymotrypsin, or plasmin released dermatan sulfate-peptides nearly as small as those released by papain or alkali; in contrast, cartilage proteoglycans were resistant to plasmin and released peptides containing an average of more than four chondroitin sulfate chains after trypsin or chymotrypsin digestion.