THE FATE OF INJECTED MUCOPOLYSACCHARIDES*

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Abstract
Purified fractions of the three types of chondroitin sulfate, A, B, and C (ChS-A, ChS-B, and ChS-C), and heparitin sulfate (Hep. S), isolated from a variety of sources, were injected into 8 adult persons and 1 dog. ChS-C of shark cartilage or of a human chondrosarcoma disappeared from the blood after a single injection in less than 4 hours without an increase in urinary mucopolysac-charide (MPS). ChS-A in the dog disappeared from the blood at a similar rate. Injected ChS-B disappeared faster from the blood than A or C, with a recovery of about 40% in the urine. With 5 times greater doses of injected ChS-A and B, the blood level in the dog of the A-isomer remained elevated after 4 hours with an excretion of 6% of the injected dose, while with the B-isomer the blood level had returned to the baseline and 30% had appeared in the urine. Repeated injections of ChS-C, B, and Hep. S in the dog led to the excretion of 11, 30, and 39%, respectively. The excreted MPSs were isolated from the urine and were shown to be unchanged in composition and optical rotation. This finding is contrasted with the extensive excretion and degradation of isotopically labeled ChS reported by other authors. In reconciliation of these data a twofold pathway is proposed for the disposal of circulating polysac-charides, one by direct excretion by the kidney, the other by intra-cellular degradation.

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