HNK-1-reactive novel oligosaccharide, sulfate-O-3GlcA beta 1-4Xyl beta 1-(4-methylumbelliferone), synthesized by cultured human skin fibroblasts.

4-Methylumbelliferyl-beta-D-xyloside (Xyl-MU) was added to the medium of cultured human skin fibroblasts. After incubation, the culture medium was pooled, and the Xyl-MU-induced oligosaccharides in the medium were purified by gel filtration chromatography. A novel Xyl-MU derivative was obtained, in addition to the previously reported Xyl-MU derivatives such as Gal-Gal-Xyl-MU, Gal-Xyl-MU, Sia-Gal-Xyl-MU, GlcA-Xyl-MU, and Xyl-Xyl-MU. The novel Xyl-MU derivative was purified using gel-filtration chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography and then subjected to carbohydrate composition analysis, enzymic digestion, Smith degradation, and ion spray mass spectrometric analysis. The results indicated that it was sulfate-O-3GlcA beta 1-4Xyl beta 1-MU. The structure of the nonreducing terminal of this Xyl-MU-induced oligosaccharide was the same as that of the oligosaccharide chain of a human peripheral nerve-derived glycolipid, reactive with the mouse monoclonal antibody HNK-1, and this Xyl-MU-induced oligosaccharide also reacted with HNK-1. These results suggest that the oligosaccharide, which is structurally identical to that of human peripheral nerve-derived glycolipid synthesized by nervous tissue and related to cell adhesion, is synthesized also by mesenchymal cells.