The quantitative determination of glycosaminoglycans in urine with Alcian Blue 8GX.

1. The effect of MgCl(2) concentration on the interaction of Alcian Blue 8GX and glycosaminoglycans in the urine of patients with mucopolysaccharidosis was studied by using a new quantitative micro method for the measurement of Alcian Blue-glycosaminoglycan complexes. This provided a means of measuring the critical electrolyte concentrations of urinary glycosaminoglycans. 2. Theoretical considerations based on the preceding paper (Whiteman, 1973) and experimental evidence provided here show that Alcian Blue 8GX may be used for the direct quantitative determination of total urinary glycosaminoglycans. The method is simple, requires sample volumes of 50mul or less, and gives results comparable with those obtained by other more complicated methods.