Fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (fCS) is the major carbohydrate constituent of sea cucumber. However, the distribution of fCS in the sea cucumber body wall has not been fully described. We addressed this in the present study employing Apostichopus japonicus as the material, a sea cucumber species with significant commercial importance. It was found that fCS was covalently attached to collagen fibrils via O-glycosidic linkages. Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that fCS precipitate was present in gap regions of collagen fibrils as roughly globular or ellipsoidal dots. The fCS dots arranged circumferentially around the fibrils with an axial repeat period that matched the periodicity of the fibrils. Physicochemical analysis indicated that the presence of fCS significantly increased the negative charge of the fibrils. These findings provide novel insight into fCS distribution in the sea cucumber body wall and its supramolecular organization with other macromolecules.

岩藻糖基化硫酸软骨素（fCS）是海参的主要碳水化合物成分。但是，尚未完全描述海参体壁中fCS的分布。我们在本研究中采用了刺槐（Apostichopus japonicus）解决了这一问题作为材料，具有重要商业意义的海参种类。发现fCS通过O-糖苷键共价附于胶原原纤维。透射电子显微镜分析显示，fCS沉淀物以近似球形或椭圆形点的形式存在于胶原蛋白原纤维的间隙区域中。fCS点围绕原纤维周向排列，其轴向重复周期与原纤维的周期性匹配。理化分析表明，fCS的存在显着增加了原纤维的负电荷。这些发现为fCS在海参体壁中的分布及其与其他大分子的超分子组织提供了新颖的见解。