ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION, AND DISTRIBUTION OF ACID MUCOPOLYSACCHARIDES IN RABBIT LEUCOCYTES

Acid mucopolysaccharides have been extracted from whole rabbit polymorphonuclear leucocytes and from the cytoplasmic granules of these cells. The leucocyte acid mucopolysaccharides can be separated into two fractions by the solubility of their CPC complexes in solutions of differing salt concentration. One of these fractions appears to be identical with hyaluronic acid; the other appears to be an atypical chondroitin sulfate. On both a dry weight and total protein basis the polymorphonuclear leucocyte granule contains approximately 2.6 times as much acid mucopolysaccharide as does the whole cell. Hyaluronic acid is concentrated in the granules in particular; its function is unknown. These results do not indicate that all lysosomes contain abundant acid mucopolysaccharides, for no detectable carbohydrate of this class could be extracted from lysosome-rich alveolar macrophages.