Molecular weight estimation of sulfated glycosaminoglycans in human gingivae

The number-average molecular weights of human gingival epithelium and connective tissue glycosaminoglycans (GAG) have been determined. Radioactive labelled GAG were extracted from separated gingival epithelium and connective tissue following alkaline degradation of the tissue in the presence of tritiated sodium borohydride. They were identified by electrophoresis as heparan sulfate (HS), hyaluronic acid (HA), dermatan sulfate (DS) and chondroitin 4-sulfate (ChS-4). Following densitometric quantitation of the sulfated GAG (HS, DS and ChS-4), the amount of radioactivity associated with each species was determined by liquid scintillation of each band staining positively for these GAG. The number-average molecular weights for each GAG were determined by end group analysis. The values obtained for each sulfated GAG indicated a degree of similarity in molecular weight distribution between the two tissue types ranging from 15,000 to 27,000.