Overview of the quality control of chondroitin sulfate / 中国药学杂志

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is an anionic linear polysaccharide having natural bioactivity, which is widely utilized as a drug and nutraceutical. Due to the structure complexity and source variety of chondroitin sulfate, the specifications of chondroitin sulfate in different pharmacopoeias were different. The related references published in recent years and pharmacopeias were analyzed, sorted, and summarized. This review summarized the methods and limits that were used to for the assay and inspection of impurities, disaccharide and relative molecular weight of chondroitin sulfate. This article would be beneficial to improve the quality control system of chondroitin sulfate.