Capillary electrophoresis: a superior miniaturized tool for analysis of the mono-, di-, and oligosaccharide constituents of glycan moieties in proteoglycans

Proteoglycans are a major family of glycoconjugates which participate in and regulate several cellular events and biological functions. Their glycan chains determine their physicochemical and biological properties. Capillary electrophoresis, because of its high resolving power and sensitivity, has been successfully used for the analysis of carbohydrates. The monosaccharide constituents, the disaccharide sulfation pattern, and the uronic acid distribution within glycan chains of proteoglycans determine their interactions with matrix effectors and are responsible for numerous effects. Determination of the chemical composition and identification of key structural components and domains of glycans are, therefore, essential in understanding the biological functions of proteoglycans. In this report an overview of the capillary electrophoresis methods used to analyze and characterize the structure of the glycan chains of proteoglycans is presented.     

Improved workup for glycosaminoglycan disaccharide analysis using CE with LIF detection

This work describes improved workup and instrumental conditions to enable robust, sensitive glycosaminoglycan (GAG) disaccharide analysis from complex biological samples. In the process of applying CE with LIF to GAG disaccharide analysis in biological samples, we have made improvements to existing methods. These include (i) optimization of reductive amination conditions, (ii) improvement in sensitivity through the use of a cellulose cleanup procedure for the derivatization, and (iii) optimization of separation conditions for robustness and reproducibility. The improved method enables analysis of disaccharide quantities as low as 1 pmol prior to derivatization. Biological GAG samples were exhaustively digested using lyase enzymes, the disaccharide products and standards were derivatized with the fluorophore 2‐aminoacridone and subjected to reversed polarity CE‐LIF detection. These conditions resolved all known chondroitin sulfate (CS) disaccharides or 11 of 12 standard heparin/heparan sulfate disaccharides, using 50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 3.5, and reversed polarity at 30 kV with 0.3 psi pressure. Relative standard deviation in migration times of CS ranged from 0.1 to 2.0% over 60 days, and the relative standard deviations of peak areas were less than 3.2%, suggesting that the method is reproducible and precise. The CS disaccharide compositions are similar to those obtained by our group using tandem MS. The reversed polarity CE‐LIF disaccharide analysis protocol yields baseline resolution and quantification of heparin/heparan sulfate and CS/dermatan sulfate disaccharides from both standard preparations and biologically relevant proteoglycan samples. The improved CE‐LIF method enables disaccharide quantification of biologically relevant proteoglycans from small samples of intact tissue.     

Microemulsion electrokinetic capillary chromatography of sulfated disaccharides derived from glycosaminoglycans.

Microemulsion electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEEKC) is a capillary electrophoresis technique in which neutral and ionized species can be resolved according to their partitioning into moving oil droplets present in the operating buffer. In this report, we present for the first time the application of MEEKC in the analysis of glycosaminoglycans. An efficient method for the separation of the variously sulfated delta-disaccharides obtained following digestion of chondroitin and dermatan sulfates with chondro/ dermato lyases and derivatization with 2-aminoacridone is described. Nonsulfated, mono-, di-, and trisulfated delta-disaccharides were completely separated using the microemulsion octane/butan-1-ol/Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in 10 mM borate buffer, pH 9.3, at 25 kV. Agreement of the obtained disaccharide composition with literature values showed that MEEKC can be used for the analysis of glycosaminoglycans.     

Identification of oligomeric domains within dermatan sulfate chains using differential enzymic treatments, derivatization with 2-aminoacridone and capillary electrophoresis

Galactosaminoglycans, i.e. dermatan sulfate (DS) and chondroitin sulfate, are linear heteropolysaccharides consisting of repeating disaccharide units of L-iduronic acid (L-IdoA) or D-glucuronic acid (D-GlcA) residues linked to N-acetyl-galactosamine. High-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE or CE) has been successfully used for determining the disaccharide composition of glycosaminoglycans. However, only limited information is available on how to identify oligomeric domains rich in D-GlcA or L-IdoA. The aim of this study was therefore to develop a rapid and accurate CE procedure by which such oligosaccharides can be determined together with the variously sulfated disaccharides. Isolated dermatan sulfates of human origin were separately digested with chondroitinases ABC, AC and B and the enzymic products were derivatized with 2-aminoacridone. CE analysis of these products was performed using a phosphate buffer, pH 3.0, and reversed polarity at 30 kV. The derivatization enabled their detection with laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and UV at 260 nm at much higher sensitivity than the detection of nonderivatized delta-saccharides at 232 nm and therefore components undetectable at 232 nm were nicely detected after derivatization. Except for delta-disaccharides, altogether five distinct oligosaccharides with differences in charge density were identified. Depending on the lyase that produced these oligomers, information on the presence of L-IdoA- or D-GlcA-containing domains within the DS chain and the sulfation pattern of these oligomeric domains was obtained. This CE method could also be useful in studying the functional oligomeric domains in galactosaminoglycan chains.     

A novel ultra-sensitive method for the quantification of glycosaminoglycan disaccharides using an automated DNA sequencer

Analysis of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) is of increasing importance concerning alterations in extracellular matrix composition and selectivity of glomerular basement membrane. In this report we describe the analysis of chondroitin sulfate disaccharides as an example of GAG delta disaccharide analysis using standard DNA sequencing equipment (DNA sequencer-assisted GAG disaccharide separation, DSA-GAGS). The presented methodology allows nanomolar quantification of 8-aminopyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid (APTS)-derived GAG disaccharides. In comparison to RP-HPLC the established method is much more sensitive, showing detection limits of 38 fmol/microL. Variation coefficients were approximately 10%, enabling exact quantifications after run times of 17 min at 30 degrees C and an electrophoresis voltage of 15 kV; using a capillary DNA sequencer, available in many molecular laboratories, presented advantages like automated sample injection, opportunity of high-throughput analyses, separation of even sulfated disaccharide epimers, and the possibility of using APTS-derived fucose as an internal standard. Furthermore, highly reproducible retention times rendered easy identification of specific signals (SD 0.02). With regard to these results, the described method is a useful tool for the quantification of GAG disaccharides in low amounts, indicating advantages of obverse RP-HPLC and slab gel polyacrylamide electrophoresis in sensitivity, error-proneness, automation, and handling.     

Capillary electrophoresis and enzyme solid phase assay for examining the purity of a synthetic heparin proteoglycan-like conjugate and identifying binding to basic fibroblast growth factor

Interaction of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) with heparin/heparan sulfate proteoglycans protects the growth factor against proteolytic degradation and is essential for its cellular activity. Although the structural requirements of heparin and heparan sulfate for the high-affinity binding to bFGF have been extensively examined, studies on intact heparin proteoglycans are limited. In this report, the purity and the binding ability of a heparin proteoglycan-like molecule-the heparin-bovine serum albumin (heparin-BSA) conjugate-was examined using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE). Furthermore, the affinity of bFGF binding to the heparin-BSA conjugate was studied using an enzyme solid-phase assay. Chondroitin sulfate, dermatan sulfate, hyaluronan, heparan sulfate and variously sulfated disaccharides derived from heparin and heparan sulfate were also studied for their ability to compete with the binding of bFGF to heparin. Heparin-BSA conjugate was synthesized by reductive amination and, following precipitation with 1.5 vols of ethanol-sodium acetate, it was obtained free of contaminating heparin. Heparin-BSA-bFGF conjugate was obtained following incubation of heparin-BSA with bFGF for 2 h at 37 degrees C. Intact heparin, heparin-BSA and heparin-BSA-bFGF conjugates were completely resolved by CZE using 50 mM phosphate, pH 3.5, as operating buffer, reversed polarity (30 kV) and detection at 232 nm. Competitive solid phase assay showed that, among the glycosaminoglycans tested, heparin exhibits the highest affinity binding to bFGF (IC(50) = 6.4 nM). Heparan sulfate showed a lower affinity as compared with that of heparin, whereas all other glycosaminoglycans and heparin/heparan sulfate-derived disaccharides tested showed minute effects. The developed CZE method is rapid and accurate and can be easily used to identify bFGF-interacting heparin preparations of biopharmaceutical importance.     

亲水作用色谱在糖类化合物分析中的应用

糖类化合物的结构和组成分析对于探究糖的结构与功能的关系具有重要作用。亲水作用色谱(HILIC)对糖类等极性化合物具有良好的分离效果。该文介绍了适合糖类分析的常用HILIC柱固定相及其分离机制,论述了强洗脱溶剂比例、流动相p H值、缓冲盐浓度和色谱柱温度对HILIC分离效果的影响,并举例说明了HILIC法在单糖组成、糖胺聚糖二糖组成、寡糖聚合度、糖苷、糖脂、糖醇以及N-/O-糖链分析中的应用。     

Determination of sulfation pattern in brain glycosaminoglycans by chip-based electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) and dermatan sulfate (DS) glycosaminoglycans display variability of sulfation in their constituent disaccharide repeats during chain elongation. Since a large proportion of the extracellular matrix of the central nervous system (CNS) is composed of proteoglycans, CS/DS disaccharide degree and profile of sulfation play important roles in the functional diversity of neurons, brain development, and some of its pathological states. To investigate the sulfation pattern of CS/DS structures expressed in CNS, we introduced here a novel method based on an advanced system encompassing fully automated chip nanoelectrospray ionization (nanoESI) in the negative ion mode and high capacity ion trap multistage mass spectrometry (MS²–MS³) by collision-induced dissociation (CID). This method, introduced here for the first time in glycomics of brain glycosaminoglycans, was particularly applied to structural investigation of disaccharides obtained by β-elimination and digestion with chondroitin B and AC I lyase of hybrid CS/DS chains from wild-type mouse brain. Screening in the chip-MS mode of DS disaccharide fraction resulting after depolymerization with chondroitin B lyase revealed molecular ions assigned to monosulfated disaccharide species having a composition of 4,5-Δ-[IdoA-GalNAc]. By optimized CID MS²–MS³, fragment ions supporting the localization of sulfate ester group at C4 within GalNAc were produced. Chip ESI MS profiling of CS disaccharide fraction obtained by depolymerization of the same CS/DS chain using chondroitin AC I lyase indicated the occurrence of mono- and bisulfated 4,5-Δ-[GlcA-GalNAc]. The site of oversulfation was determined by MS²–MS³, which provided sequence patterns consistent with a rare GlcA-3-sulfate–GalNAc-6-sulfate structural motif.      

New electrophoretic and chromatographic techniques for analysis of heparin and heparan sulfate

Heparin (HE) and heparan sulfated glycosaminoglycans are well-known mediators of tissue development, maintenance and functions; the activities of these polysaccharides are depending mainly on their sulfate substitutions. The HE structure is also a very important feature in antithrombotic drug development, since the antithrombin binding site is composed by sequences of a specific sulfation pattern. The analysis of disaccharide composition is then a fundamental point of all the studies regarding HE/heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycan (and thereby proteoglycan) functions. The present work describes two analytical methods to quantify the disaccharides constituting HE and heparan sulfate chains. The use of PAGE of fluorophore-labeled saccharides and HPLC coupled with a fluorescence detector allowed in one run the identification of 90-95% of HE disaccharides and 74-100% of rat kidney purified heparan sulfate. Moreover, the protocol here reported avoid the N-sulfation disaccharides degradation, which may affect N-sulfated/N-acetylated disaccharides ratio evaluation. These methods could be also very important in clinical treatments since they are useful for monitoring the availability kinetics of antithrombotic drugs, such as low-molecular-weight HEs.     

Separation of negatively charged carbohydrates by capillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) has recently emerged as a highly promising technique consuming an extremely small amount of sample and capable of the rapid, high-resolution separation, characterization, and quantitation of analytes. CE has been used for the separation of biopolymers, including acidic carbohydrates. Since CE is basically an analytical method for ions, acidic carbohydrates that give anions in weakly acid, neutral, or alkaline media are often the direct objects of this method. The scope of this review is limited to the use of CE for the analysis of carbohydrates containing carboxylate, sulfate, and phosphate groups as well as neutral carbohydrates that have been derivatized to incorporate strongly acidic functionality, such as sulfonate groups.     

Separation of neutral carbohydrates by capillary electrophoresis

The basic strategies for analysis of neutral carbohydrates by capillary electrophoresis are summarized. Neutral carbohydrates are dissociated in strong alkali to give anions, hence they can be separated directly by zone electrophoresis based on the difference between their dissociation constants. However, neutral carbohydrates are not electrically charged under normal conditions. Therefore, they should be converted to ions prior to or during analysis. Precapillary introduction of a basic or an acidic group to a neutral carbohydrate gives the derivative positive (in acidic media) or negative (in alkaline media) charge, respectively. The derivatives thus obtained can be separated by zone electrophoresis. Analysis of carbohydrates in a carrier containing an oxyacid salt (such as sodium borate) or an alkaline metal salt (such as calcium acetate) causes in situ conversion to anionic or cationic complexes, respectively, which are separated by zone electrophoresis. The effective uses of electrokinetic chromatography in sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles for hydrophobic derivatives (such as 1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone derivatives) and size-exclusion electrophoresis in gel-packed capillaris for size different oligosaccharides are also discussed. Each separation mode has its inherent method(s) for detection, which are also described here.     

Analysis of heparan sulfate oligosaccharides with ion pair-reverse phase capillary high performance liquid chromatography-microelectrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Heparan sulfate, a cell surface bound glycosaminoglycan polysaccharide, has been implicated in numerous biological functions. Heparan sulfate molecules are highly complex and diverse, yet deceivingly look simple and similar, rendering structure--function correlation tedious. Current chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques have limitations for analyzing glycosaminoglycan samples that are in low abundance and that are large in size, due to their highly acidic nature arising from a large number of sulfate and of carboxylate groups. A new methodology was developed using capillary ion-paired reverse-phase C18 HPLC directly coupled to ESI-TOF-MS to address the above issues. On the basis of HS disaccharide analysis, dibutylamine was found to be the best suited for HS analysis among many ion-pairing agents investigated. Next, analysis of oligosaccharides derived from heparosan, the precursor for heparan sulfate, was undertaken to demonstrate its greater applicability in a more complex structural analysis. The established chromatographic conditions enabled the characterization of heparosan oligosaccharides of sizes up to tetracontasaccharide with high resolution in a single run and were amenable to negative ion electrospray MS in which sodium adduction and fragmentation were avoided. To date, these are the largest nonsulfated HS precursor oligosaccharides to be characterized by LC/MS. Finally, the current methodology was applied to the characterization of the biologically important ATIII binding pentasaccharide and its precursors, which differ from each other by sulfation pattern and/or degree of sulfation. All of these pentasaccharides were well-resolved and characterized by the LC/MS system with (34)SO(4) as a mass spectral probe. This newly developed methodology facilitates the purification and rapid characterization of biologically significant HS oligosaccharides, and will thus expedite their synthesis. These findings should undoubtedly pave the way in deciphering multiple functional arrangements, ascribed to many biological activities, which are predictably embedded in a single large chaotic, yet well-organized HS polysaccharide chain. Development of newer techniques for HS oligosaccharide analysis is greatly needed in the postgenome era as attention shifts to the functional implications of proteins and carbohydrates in general and HS in particular.     

Capillary electrophoresis of complex natural polysaccharides

Complex natural polysaccharides, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), are a class of ubiquitous macromolecules that exhibit a wide range of biological functions and participate and regulate multiple cellular events and (patho)physiological processes. They are generally present either as free chains (hyaluronic acid and bacterial acidic polysaccharides) or as side chains of proteoglycans (PGs; chondroitin/dermatan sulfate, heparin/heparan sulfate, and keratan sulfate) and are most often found in cell membranes and in the extracellular matrix. The recent emergence of modern analytical tools for their study has produced a virtual explosion in the field of glycomics. CE, due to its high resolving power and sensitivity, has been useful in the analysis of intact GAGs and GAG-derived oligosaccharides and disaccharides affording concentration and structural characterization data essential for understanding the biological functions of GAGs. In this review, novel off-line and on-line CE-MS and MS/MS methods for screening of GAG-derived oligosaccharides and disaccharides will be discussed.     

Comparison of Pulsed Electrochemical Detection Modes Coupled with Microchip Capillary Electrophoresis

There is a need to develop analytical methods that are capable of rapidly measuring small biological markers in the field of metabolomics. Among others, carbohydrates play an important role biologically yet are traditionally hard to detect since they have no chromophore or fluorophore. In the present report, the first application of integrated pulsed amperometric detection (iPAD) coupled with microchip electrophoresis to the analysis of glucose, mannose, sucrose, maltose, glucosamine, lactose, maltotriose and galactose is demonstrated. iPAD is an electrochemical detection mode that can be used for direct detection of carbohydrates, amines and sulfur containing compounds. The effect of different solution parameters, including the buffer concentration, pH and the concentration of SDS on both separation and detection response was analyzed. In addition, a comparison study between PAD and iPAD was performed using glucose, glucosamine, sucrose and maltose as model carbohydrates.     

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of fluorophore-labeled hyaluronan and chondroitin sulfate disaccharides: application to the analysis in cells and tissues

This report describes a new formulation of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of fluorophore-labeled saccharides (PAGEFS) for the analysis of hyaluronan (HA) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) Delta-disaccharides. PAGEFS relies on derivatization of reducing ends of HA- and the variously sulfated CS-derived Delta-disaccharides with 2-aminoacridone (AMAC), followed by electrophoresis under optimized buffer conditions (Tris-borate and Tris-HCl) and on polyacrylamide gels (25% T/3.75% C). The method was applied to the analysis of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) from the human umbilical cord tissue and GAGs isolated from human aortic smooth muscle cell cultures. The obtained results were in agreement with those obtained after an analysis with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). On the basis of these results, PAGEFS is a rapid and sensitive method for the analysis of the total amount of HA- and CS-derived disaccharides, as it allows analyzing 20 samples in minigels in one run and provides quantitation with relatively high sensitivity (less than 25 pmol per disaccharide). In addition, PAGEFS overcomes the lack of commercial gels described previously for the separation of AMAC-labeled disaccharides. Therefore, the method proposed here is an economic and useful tool for a fast screening of GAGs in biological samples, particularly when a high number of samples should be analyzed.     

Detection of submicrogram quantities of glycosaminoglycans on agarose gels by sequential staining with toluidine blue and Stains-All

A sensitive method has been developed for the visualization of nonradiolabelled glycosaminoglycans resolved by agarose gel electrophoresis using staining with toluidine blue followed by Stains-All procedure. This method, which can detect as little as 10 ng of a single species, can be used to stain a few micrograms of a complex polysaccharide mixture. The combination of agarose gel electrophoresis and sequential toluidine blue/Stains-All staining can be applied to the analysis of all the complex glycosaminoglycans (i.e., heparin, heparan sulfate, chondroitin/dermatan sulfate) and nonsulfated polyanions (i.e., hyaluronate, defructosylated capsular polysaccharide K4) as well as to comparisons of specificities of the glycosaminoglycan-degrading enzymes and the identification and quantification of the contaminations of other polysaccharides within glycosaminoglycan preparations with great sensitivity (about 0.1%). Furthermore, this method can be used to stain low-molecular-mass fractions and oligosaccharides derived from the natural polyanions, such as heparin. This procedure may be particularly valuable in situations where the availability of glycosaminoglycan is very limited.     

Use of cerny epoxides for the accelerated synthesis of glycosaminoglycans

[reaction: see text]. 1,6:2,3-Dianhydrohexopyranoses (Cerny epoxides) are versatile intermediates for the synthesis of glycosaminoglycans. Complex heparan and chondroitin sulfate disaccharide synthons can be assembled from a single common precursor in a short sequence of steps.     

Exploiting flow injection system with mini-immunoaffinity chromatographic column for chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans assay

A flow injection (FI) system with a mini-immunoaffinity chromatographic column was used to perform on-line assays of specific proteoglycans. The 300-μL mini-column contained beads coupled with monoclonal antibodies against the specific sulfation pattern of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, which have been reported to be a potential biomarker for cancer. The amount of these proteoglycans present was estimated indirectly from their protein content using the Bradford assay, which is an alternative to a direct carbohydrate assay. The system developed was tested by assaying for chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans in sera from patients with various cancers and comparing the results to those obtained for sera from healthy people. The results indicated that this approach could be used as a cost-effective alternative system for determining the amount of these specific biomarker proteoglycans. The column could be reused at least 90 times, with each run consisting of 200 μL of serum sample diluted twofold; an analysis rate of 30 min per run was achieved, as compared to 4 h for a batch procedure.     

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance characterisation of glycosaminoglycans using chemometric techniques

Various types of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) including heparins, chondroitin sulfates, dermatan sulfate and hyaluronic acid were studied from their proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectra using chemometric techniques. Despite the complexity of the 1H NMR signals, data analysis using principal component analysis enabled the different GAG classes to be distinguished and permitted their classification according to their chemical structure. The analysis of the composition of the major disaccharide unit and other relevant chemical structures in the heparin samples was performed using partial least squares regression.     

Determination of sulfate ester content in sulfated oligo‐ and poly‐saccharides by capillary electrophoresis with indirect UV detection

Carbohydrates having sulfate groups such as glycosaminoglycans and chemically synthesized sucrose sulfate show interesting and important biological activities. We adapted CE with indirect UV detection technique to the determination of sulfate ester in sulfated carbohydrates, which were previously hydrolyzed with HCl. The liberated sulfate ion was analyzed using a background electrolyte consisting of triethanolamine‐buffered chromate with hexamethonium bromide. Sulfate contents of glucose 3‐sulfate and sucrose octasulfate used as a model were in good agreement with theoretical values (accuracy, 95.9–96.7 and 97.4–101.9%, respectively), and relative standard deviation values run‐to‐run were 0.977 and 1.90%, respectively. We applied the method to the determination of the sulfate contents of some glycosaminoglycan samples and showed that the contents were in good agreement with those calculated from sulfur content. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.