Disaccharide composition of heparan sulfates: brain, nervous tissue storage organelles, kidney, and lung.

We have characterized the structural properties of heparan sulfates from brain and other tissues after depolymerization with a mixture of three heparin and heparan sulfate lyases from Flavobacterium heparinum. The resulting disaccharides were separated by HPLC and identified by comparison with authentic standards. In rat, rabbit, and bovine brain, 46-69% of the heparan sulfate disaccharides are N-acetylated and unsulfated, and 17-21% contain a single sulfate residue in the form of a sulfoamino group. In rabbit, bovine, and 1-day postnatal rat brain, disaccharides containing both a sulfated uronic acid and N-sulfate account for an additional 10-14%, together with smaller and approximately equal proportions (5-9%) of mono-, di-, and trisulfated disaccharides having sulfate at the 6-position of the glucosamine residue. Kidney and lung heparan sulfates are distinguished by high concentrations of disaccharides containing 6-sulfated N-acetylglucosamine residues. In chromaffin granules, the catecholamine- and peptide-storing organelles of adrenal medulla, where heparan sulfate accounts for a minor portion (5-10%) of the glycosaminoglycans, we have determined that bovine chromaffin granule membranes contain heparan sulfate in which almost all of the disaccharides are either unsulfated (71%) or monosulfated (18%). In sympathetic nerves, norepinephrine is stored in large dense cored vesicles that in biochemical composition and properties closely resemble adrenal chromaffin granules. However, in contrast to chromaffin granules, heparan sulfate accounts for approximately 75% of the total glycosaminoglycans in large dense-cored vesicles and more closely resembles heparin, insofar as it contains only 21% unsulfated disaccharides, 10% mono- and disulfated disaccharides, and 69% trisulfated disaccharides.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)