Table 1. Disaccharide components of various CSs and chemically derived CS.

Disaccharide composition (%) of each CS was determined by HPLC on an amino-bound silica column after chondroitinase ABC digestion as described previously [31]. ΔDi-0S, Δ^4,5HexA(α1-3)GalNAc; ΔDi-4S, Δ^4,5HexA(α1-3)GalNAc(4-O-sulphate);ΔDi-6S, Δ^4,5HexA(α1-3)GalNAc(6-O-sulphate); ΔDi-diS_E, Δ^4,5HexA(α1-3)GalNAc(4,6-O-disulphate); ΔDi-diS_B, Δ^4,5HexA(2-O-sulphate)(α1-3)GalNAc(4-O-sulphate); ΔDi-diS_D, Δ^4,5HexA(2-O-sulphate)(α1-3)GalNAc(4-O-sulphate); ΔDi-tirS, Δ^4,5HexA(2-O-sulphate)(α1-3)GalNAc(4,6-O-disulphate); n.d., not determined.

		Unsaturated disaccharide (%)
CS	Source (see main text)	ΔDi-0S	ΔDi-4S	ΔDi-6S	ΔDi-diSE	ΔDi-diSB	ΔDi-diSD	ΔDi-triS
CS-A	Shin-Nihon Yakugyo Co.	10.1	49.2	40.0	0.2	0.0	0.4	n.d.
CS-B	Seikagaku Kogyo Co.	1.5	91.1	1.7	n.d.	5.5	0.2	n.d.
CS-C	San-Ei Gen FFI Co.	6.2	21.7	62.0	1.7	n.d.	8.4	n.d.
CS-D	Seikagaku Kogyo Co.	1.9	36.3	41.0	0.6	0.8	19.1	0.3
CS-E	Seikagaku Kogyo Co.	11.9	22.2	10.0	55.5	n.d.	n.d.	0.4
Fully O-sulphated CS-A*		n.d.	n.d.	n.d.	n.d.	n.d.	n.d.	n.d.
Partially O-sulphated CS-A		2.1	2.3	37.7	33.1	n.d.	7.8	17.1
de O-sulphated CS-A		100.0	n.d.	n.d.	n.d.	n.d.	n.d.	n.d.

* Fully O-sulphated CS-A is highly inhibitory to the action of chondroitinase ABC.