Coupling of glycosaminoglycans to agarose beads (sepharose 4B)

1. Heparin, heparan sulphate, chondroitin sulphate and dermatan sulphate were covalently attached to beads of agarose activated by cyanogen bromide. The bond is probably mediated by the amino group of a serine or peptide residue at the reducing end of the polysaccharide chain. 2. The uptake of glycosaminoglycan during the coupling procedure is about 0.9mg/ml of wet gel. However, direct analysis of washed and freeze-dried gels reveals that only about one-third of this amount is firmly attached to the gel. 3. The use of the gels for polysaccharidase analyses is exemplified by a hyaluronidase assay. Further applications, e.g. interaction studies and preparative purposes, are discussed.