Sulfated glycan present in the EDTA extract of Hemicentrotus embryos (mid-gastrula)

Light microscopical observations of the Alcian blue-stained gastrulae of Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus together with the scanning electron microscopical observations of the embryos revealed the presence of highly acidic glycans in the invaginating archenteron (inside surface), the surrounding of secondary mesenchyme cells (pseudopodial protrusions and filamentous structures) and the hyaline layer. In the embryos grown in sulfate-free sea water and thus with arrested gastrulation it was found that the dye stainability in the above regions was markedly reduced. The glycosaminoglycan fraction prepared from the whole embryos (mid-gastrulae) was found to contain various kinds of acidic glycans as analysed by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. Among these glycan components, the "F" component was mainly recovered in the EDTA extract of the embryos, and was shown to be specifically deleted in the embryos grown in sulfate-free sea water, suggesting that the "F" component may be related to the Alcian blue-stainable material in Hemicentrotus embryos. The component "F" was found to consist of sulfated fucan and acid mucopolysaccharide (unidentified) chains, which are probably linked to a common peptide core, forming macromolecules with larger than 10(6) molecular weights.