The enzyme has been used to study the consequences of inducing acute, long-lasting changes in chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans using adult rat brain cells. Glycosaminoglycans have been digested with chondroitinase ABC for chondroitin/dermatan sulfate quantitation in keratocyte cell cultures obtained from fresh bovine corneal stromae.
Chondroitinase ABC from Sigma has been used to digest O-linked chondroitin sulfate-like glycosaminoglycan (CSGAG). The enzyme has also been used to digest glycosaminoglycan chains in proteoglycans during the construction and expression of a recombinant versican gene in mammalian systems. Furthermore, it has been used to digest chondroitin sulfate in the proteoglycan complexes. The enzyme has also been used in the removal of glycan chains from aggrecan, which eliminates the axon growth-inhibitory effect of aggrecan.
Chondroitinase ABC catalyzes the eliminative degradation of polysaccharides containing (1-4)-β-D-hexosaminyl and (1-3)-β-D-glucuronosyl (or (1-3)-α-L-iduronosyl) linkages to disaccharides containing 4-deoxy-β-D-gluc-4-enuronosyl groups. It acts on chondroitin 4-sulfate, chondroitin 6-sulfate, and dermatan sulfate. However, it acts slowly on hyaluronate. The molecular weight is approximately 120 kDa with 2 non-identical subunits of molecular masses 86 kDa and 32 kDa. The pH optimum is 8.0 with chondroitin sulfate and 6.8 with hyaluronic acid. The optimal temperature is 37 °C. 1 mM Zn2+ acts as an inhibitor, while 0.05 M acetate is an activator of the enzyme.
