Heparin's Solution Structure Determined by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS)
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Authors
Rubinson, K.A.
Chen, Y.
Cress, B.F.
Zhang, F.
Linhardt, Robert J.
Issue Date
2016
Type
Article
Language
ENG
Keywords
Biology , Chemistry and chemical biology , Chemical and biological engineering , Biomedical engineering
Alternative Title
Abstract
Heparin is a linear, anionic polysaccharide that is widely used as a clinical anticoagulant. Despite its discovery 100 years ago in 1916, the solution structure of heparin remains unknown. The solution shape of heparin has not previously been examined in water under a range of concentrations, and here is done so in D2 O solution using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). Solutions of 10 kDa heparin-in the millimolar concentration range-were probed with SANS. Our results show that when sodium concentrations are equivalent to the polyelectrolyte's charge or up to a few hundred millimoles higher, the molecular structure of heparin is compact and the shape could be well modeled by a cylinder with a length three to four times its diameter. In the presence of molar concentrations of sodium, the molecule becomes extended to nearly its full length estimated from reported X-ray measurements on stretched fibers. This stretched form is not found in the presence of molar concentrations of potassium ions. In this high-potassium environment, the heparin molecules have the same shape as when its charges were mostly protonated at pD ≈ 0.5, that is, they are compact and approximately half the length of the extended molecules.
Description
Biopolymers, 105, 905-913
Note : if this item contains full text it may be a preprint, author manuscript, or a Gold OA copy that permits redistribution with a license such as CC BY. The final version is available through the publisher’s platform.
Note : if this item contains full text it may be a preprint, author manuscript, or a Gold OA copy that permits redistribution with a license such as CC BY. The final version is available through the publisher’s platform.
Full Citation
Heparin's Solution Structure Determined by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS), K. A. Rubinson, Y. Chen, B. F. Cress, F. Zhang, R. J. Linhardt, Biopolymers, 105, 905-913, 2016.
Publisher
Wiley