Chondroitin sulfate (CS) glycosaminoglycans play critical roles in various physiological processes, including cell division, inflammation, and spinal cord injury. However, the complexity of this important class of molecules has hindered efforts to relate structure to function and to generate defined molecular tools for manipulating CS activity. Comprising 40-200 sulfated disaccharide units, CS is thought to contain "blocks" of high and low sulfation, with highly sulfated regions serving as binding sites for growth factors, cytokines, and other proteins. Although a tetrasaccharide is often sufficient for molecular recognition and neuronal activity, longer sequences may further enhance protein binding and allow for the assembly of multimeric protein complexes.
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