Capillary electrophoresis of complex natural polysaccharides

Complex natural polysaccharides, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), are a class of ubiquitous macromolecules that exhibit a wide range of biological functions and participate and regulate multiple cellular events and (patho)physiological processes. They are generally present either as free chains (hyaluronic acid and bacterial acidic polysaccharides) or as side chains of proteoglycans (PGs) (chondroitin/dermatan sulfate, heparin/heparan sulfate and keratan sulfate) and are most often found in cell membranes and in the extracellular matrix. The recent emergence of modern analytical tools for their study has produced a virtual explosion in the field of glycomics. Capillary electrophoresis (CE), due to its high resolving power and sensitivity, has been useful in the analysis of intact GAGs and GAG-derived oligosaccharides and disaccharides affording concentration and structural characterization data essential for understanding the biological functions of GAGs. In this review, novel off-line and on-line CE-MS and tandem MS methods for screening of GAG-derived oligosaccharides and disaccharides will be discussed.