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Analysis of glycosaminoglycan-derived, precolumn, 2-aminoacridone–labeled disaccharides with LC-fluorescence and LC-MS detection

Nature Protocols volume 9, pages 541–558 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) possess considerable heterogeneity in average molecular mass, molecular mass range, disaccharide composition and content and position of sulfo groups. Despite recent technological advances in the analysis of GAGs, the determination of GAG disaccharide composition still remains challenging and provides key information required for understanding GAG function. Analysis of GAG-derived disaccharides relies on enzymatic treatment, providing one of the most practical and quantitative approaches for compositional mapping. Tagging the reducing end of disaccharides with an aromatic fluorescent label affords stable derivatives with properties that enable improved detection and resolution. HPLC with on-line electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) offers a relatively soft ionization method for detection and characterization of sulfated oligosaccharides. GAGs obtained from tissues, biological fluids or cells are treated with various enzymes to obtain disaccharides that are fluorescently labeled with 2-aminoacridone (AMAC) and resolved by different LC systems for high-sensitivity detection by fluorescence, and then they are unambiguously characterized by MS. The preparation and labeling of GAG-derived disaccharides can be performed in ∼1–2 d, and subsequent HPLC separation and on-line fluorescence detection and ESI-MS analysis takes another 1–2 h.

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Figure 1: Chromatogram of HA/CS/DS unsaturated disaccharides fluorotagged with AMAC, separated on an X-Bridge RP18 column.
Figure 2: ESI-MS spectra in the negative mode of HA/CS/DS and HS/hep disaccharides fluorotagged with AMAC.
Figure 3: Analysis of AMAC-tagged constituent disaccharides (and sulfated monosaccharide, GalNS) of CS from bovine, skate cartilage and DS from porcine mucosa obtained by exhaustive treatment with chondroitin ABC lyase and separated on an X-Bridge RP18 column.
Figure 4: Analysis of disaccharides from endogeneous healthy human plasma CS derivatized with AMAC, separated on an X-Bridge RP18 column.
Figure 5: TIC of Hep/HS unsaturated disaccharides derivatized with AMAC separated by a Discovery C18 column and detected by ESI-MS in negative ion mode.
Figure 6: TIC of disaccharides produced by the exhaustive action of Hep lyases on beef spleen HS (HS), beef mucosa Hep (UHF), fast-moving Hep (FM-Hep) and LMW-Hep dalteparin (Dalteparin) fluorotaggged with AMAC and separated on a Discovery C18 column and detected by ESI-MS.
Figure 7: EIC of AMAC-tagged disaccharide standards and from GAGs extracted from different biological sources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Nicola Volpi & Fabio Galeotti

  2. Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Chemical and Biological Engineering and Biology, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA

    Bo Yang & Robert J Linhardt

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Contributions

All authors contributed equally to this work. N.V. designed and developed the on-line HPLC-FD-ESI-MS analysis of AMAC-tagged GAGs disaccharides. R.J.L. and B.Y. designed and developed the RP-HPLC-ESI-MS concurrent separation of multiple families of AMAC-tagged GAG disaccharides. F.G. applied this methodology to the structural study of various GAGs.

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Correspondence to Nicola Volpi.

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Integrated supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1 Tuning of mass spectral parameters to minimize sulfo-group loss on N,2,6triSHS disaccharide (D2S6).

A. Spectra showing a high sulfo-group (SO3) loss. B. Optimized spectra after tuning showing no (or minimal) sulfo group (SO3) loss. This tuning should be performed prior to performing analyses.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1

Tuning of mass spectral parameters to minimize sulfo-group loss on N,2,6triSHS disaccharide (D2S6). (PDF 164 kb)

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Volpi, N., Galeotti, F., Yang, B. et al. Analysis of glycosaminoglycan-derived, precolumn, 2-aminoacridone–labeled disaccharides with LC-fluorescence and LC-MS detection. Nat Protoc 9, 541–558 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2014.026

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2014.026

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