Fractionation of heparin, dermatan sulfate, and chondroitin sulfate by sequential precipitation: a method to purify a single glycosaminoglycan species from a mixture.

Purified heparin, dermatan sulfate, and chondroitin sulfate in mixtures were fractionated by sequential precipitation with increasing volumes of acetone and analyzed by agarose-gel electrophoresis and for M(r), charge density, constituent disaccharides, and anticoagulant activity (for heparin). Purified glycosaminoglycans are generally utilized for pharmaceutical purposes and show physicochemical properties of glycosaminoglycans used as drugs. Heparin is the first glycosaminoglycan to precipitate at low percentages of acetone. The relative amount of slow moving and fast moving components, the M(r) and charge density, and the disaccharide pattern of fractionated heparin depend on the percentage of solvent. The activated partial thromboplastin time activity of fractions composed of heparin decreases with the charge density and M(r). Dermatan sulfate is precipitated by acetone over a narrow range (0.6-0.7 vol, 37-41%), and one of these fractions is constituted by 100% of this polysaccharide. These species of dermatan sulfate have different percentages of constituent disaccharides compared to the native polysaccharide. Nonsulfated disaccharide and disaccharide-6-sulfate are enriched. The dermatan sulfate species precipitated by acetone are also enriched in disaccharide-4,6-disulfated. Chondroitin sulfate is the most soluble glycosaminoglycan in mixed acetone/water solvent. It begins to precipitate at 0.8 vol (44%) of acetone. Different species of chondroitin sulfate can be recovered by precipitation at different percentages of solvent, and they show a decrease in M(r) and charge density depending on the percentage of acetone. The chondroitin sulfate species fractionated are also enriched in disulfated disaccharides compared to native polysaccharide. A different distribution of the three disulfated disaccharides can be pointed out in the fractionated chondroitin sulfate. Sequential precipitation performed by carefully increasing acetone percentages can help obtain purified species of glycosaminoglycan with desired properties from a mixture and tissue extracts, and achieve savings in time.