Capillary electrophoresis to measure sulfoesterase activity on chondroitin sulfate and heparin derived disaccharides.

Capillary electrophoresis was used to assay sulfoesterase activity on sulfated disaccharides derived from chondroitin sulfate, dermatan sulfate and heparin. The three sulfoesterases studied were chondro-4-O-sulfatase (EC 3.1.6.9) and chondro-6-O-sulfatase (EC 3.1.6.10) from Proteus vulgaris and heparo-2-O-sulfatase from Flavobacterium heparinum. Capillary electrophoresis was used to analyse sulfated disaccharide before and after sulfoesterase treatment and a change in migration time was indicative of the presence of sulfoesterase activity. This assay was used both on purified sulfoesterases and on minor sulfoesterase contaminants present in other enzyme preparations. The high sensitivity of capillary electrophoresis permits the elimination of 35S-radiolabeled substrates normally required to assay sulfoesterases. The high resolution of capillary electrophoresis allows the use of this assay on impure enzyme preparations containing high protein concentrations.