Macro and micro rate zonal analytical centrifugation of polydisperse and slowly diffusing sedimenting systems in isovolumetric density gradients. Application to cartilage proteoglycans.

A method to study the polydispersity of zonally sedimenting and slowly diffusing macromolecules or particles in isokinetic or isovolumetric density gradients is presented. First, a brief theory is given for predicting the zonal profile after a "triangular" (or "inverse") zone is centrifuged. This type of zone is essential to preserve hydrodynamic stability of the very slowly diffusing polydisperse solutes. It is proven, both by semitheoretical considerations and by computer calculations, that the resulting concentration profile of macrosolute is almost identical with that obtainable with a rectangular zone coextensive with the triangular one and carrying the same total mass. Next, practical procedures are described for the convectionless layering of very small triangular zones (50 microL or less). The linearity and stability of the zones are experimentally tested and verified. Finally, the method is applied to cartilage proteoglycan preparations that included either the monomeric molecules only or both the monomeric and the aggregated ones. The zonal results are compared with those obtained by using conventional boundary sedimentation. The two sets of results are seen to coincide fairly well, thus proving that the present technique can add to preparative zonal centrifugation the analytical precision of boundary sedimentation. A multimodal polydisperse system is suggested to describe the aggregated proteoglycan macromolecules.

Characterization of the proteoglycans recovered under nondissociative conditions from normal articular cartilage of rabbits and dogs.

Pretreatment of articular cartilage with a highly purified collagenase in the presence of selected protease inhibitors allowed the extraction under nondissociative conditions of 65% of the tissue hexuronate. Extracted proteoglycans were purified by two successive equilibrium centrifugations in Cs2SO4 and CsCl, respectively, and then characterized by their sedimentation properties. The use of labeled proteoglycan preparations demonstrated that no detectable degradation was introduced by the new extraction procedure. When applied to growth cartilage of rachitic rats the sedimentation profile of the purified proteoglycans was practically identical to that of the proteoglycan molecules recovered by micropuncture-aspiration. Proteoglycans were extracted from normal articular cartilage of rabbits and dogs with either the new procedure or 4.0 M guanidine HCl. The purified aA1 and A1 preparations were characterized by their sedimentation properties. The aA1 contained a higher proportion of aggregates which sedimented as two distinctive populations of molecules. This bimodal distribution of the aggregates was never observed in the A1 preparations even when the dissociative extraction was performed after collagenase pretreatment of cartilages. The two extraction procedures, however, extracted the same proteoglycan monomers since the aA1-D1 and A1-D1 preparations had similar biochemical composition and g(s) distribution functions. These observations and additional in vitro aggregation studies suggested that the differences in the size and proportion of aggregates between the aA1 and A1 preparations result from a more efficient recovery of link glycoproteins in nondissociative extractions that could have determined two structurally different hyaluronate molecules.

Boundary centrifugation in isovolumetric and isokinetic cesium sulfate density gradients: application to cartilage proteoglycans and other macromolecules.

A boundary sedimentation methodology is described that avoids plateau dilution and simplifies the calculation of centrifugal parameters. The technique is designed for the preparative ultracentrifuge and uses a newly developed sectorial cell. It is based on previous developments of the transport method and depends on isokinetic or isovolumetric Cs2SO4 density and viscosity gradients. These gradients are prepared with a single-chamber mixing device, and the only two parameters required for their calculations are presented in a tabulated form for general use with most available rotors and cell sizes. Conditions are specified (1) to assure that the density and shape of the sedimenting molecules remain invariant through the selected electrolytic gradient, (2) to monitor the gradient profiles, and (3) to verify attainment of isokinetic or isovolumetric sedimentations. A set of equations is presented to calculate the average and transport sedimentation coefficients and the differential sedimentation coefficient distribution for both the isokinetic and isovolumetric centrifugal regimes. The method was applied to slowly diffusing polydisperse proteoglycan monomers, to a paucidisperse DNA from bacteriophage PM2, and to a diffusible monodisperse system (purified bovine serum albumin). In all cases, the expected results were obtained.

A sectorial centrifuge cell for swinging bucket rotors--application to a velocity gradient centrifugation methodology.

A sectorial cell of 1.55 ml capacity, designed to be used in swinging bucket rotors, is introduced and applied to boundary sedimentation studies. The cell, made of polycarbonate by injection molding, represents an improvement over previously existing models in terms of resistance and attainable speeds. Its use has been extended to polydispersity determination by evaluation of the s value distribution function g(s) = dC/ds. The latter can be corrected to standard conditions (water at 20 degrees C), by using newly derived equations in connection with a cesium sulfate linear density and viscosity gradient which is introduced for boundary stabilization. The cell performance is illustrated with the centrifugal characterization of a polydisperse hyaluronate solution and a paucidisperse proteoglycan A1 preparation. In the latter case a distinctive distribution of aggregates into two polydisperse families of molecules, hitherto not reported in the literature but previously observed with cylindrical cells in this laboratory, has been clearly confirmed. Analysis of plateau dilution during centrifugation indicated absence of artifacts.