Fluorometric analysis of urinary chondroitin sulfate isomers by HPLC using dansylhydrazine as a prelabeling reagent

Chondroitin sulfate isomers (ChS isomers) were digested with chondroitinase ABC, and the unsaturated disaccharides produced were converted into fluorescent dansylhydrazine derivatives and analyzed by HPLC. The proposed method was applied to the determination of relative amounts of ChS isomers in normal human urine and analytical results showed that chondroitin-6-sulfate and chondroitin-4-sulfate were excreted in large amounts. Moreover, this method was used for the identification of urinary ChS isomers which were extracted from a cellulose acetate strip after carrying out electrophoresis.