Isolation, characterization, and localization of glycosaminoglycans in rabbit bone marrow

The glycosaminoglycans that exist in rabbit bone marrow were analyzed chemically, and their in situ localization was studied immunohistochemically. Femoral bone marrow of 3-month-old rabbits was defatted with organic solvents. Glycosaminoglycans were prepared from the defatted tissue after its digestion with pronase, treatment with mild alkali, and then digestion with DNase-I. The tissue contained glycosaminoglycans equivalent to 195 mg of hexosamine per femur, which accounted for 27.3% of the total hexosamine in the tissue. Studies with hyaluronidase from Streptomyces hyalurolyticus and chondroitinase ABC showed that the glycosaminoglycans were composed of hyaluronic acid (16% of the total glycosaminoglycan) and chondroitin 6-sulfate (79%). The chondroitin 6-sulfate was separated on Bio-Gel A-0.5m gel into two molecular species with mol wt of greater than 12,000 (Kd greater than 0.2) and approximately 8,000 (Kd = 0.47). Bone marrow digested with chondroitinase ABC and then treated with three monoclonal antibodies 4/8/9-A-2, 5/6/3-B-3, and 5/6/1-B-5, which were specific for unsaturated 4-sulfated, 6-sulfated, and nonsulfated disaccharide structures, respectively, at the nonreducing end of chondroitin sulfate chains, reacted with only 5/6/3-B-3. This result indicated that the chondroitin sulfate, isomer in the bone marrow is chondroitin 6- sulfate, consistent with the biochemical results. The chondroitin 6- sulfate was localized mainly in the extracellular compartment and was considered to be involved in construction of the hemopoietic microenvironment in the bone marrow.