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Biomedical subjects

R J Linhardt

Publications and source records attributed to R J Linhardt.

195 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Metachromatic activity of heparin and heparin fragments.

Heparin of an average molecular weight of 13,000 was fractionated on the basis of size into five fractions of different weight-average molecular weight ranging from 8500 to 20,000. The heparin was also degraded using microbial heparinase resulting in products ranging from a disaccharide of molecular weight 500 to an oligosaccharide of molecular weight 3100. These products were also size fractionated. The individual heparin fractions and products were tested for metachromatic activity with Azure A. The metachromatic activity of the heparin fractions was independent of molecular weight, while the metachromatic activity of the products was dependent on molecular weight. Metachromatic activity was found in a fragment as small as a tetrasaccharide. Anticoagulant activity was found in fragments of tetrasaccharide or larger by a Factor Xa clotting assay and in fragments of hexasaccharide or larger by a Factor Xa amidolytic chromogenic assay.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Effect of extracorporeal enzymatic deheparinization on formed blood components.

A stirred blood filter containing an immobilized enzyme, heparinase, has been used to neutralize heparin's anticoagulant activity at the outflow of an extracorporeal circuit in dogs. The hematocrit and red blood cell count remained unchanged throughout the 90-min perfusion period. Platelet and white blood cell counts decreased early in the procedure to approximately 20% of the initial levels, but then returned to 30 and 70%, respectively, of their initial values by the end of the procedure. After 24 h normal levels were reestablished. In vitro experiments with human blood were conducted to determine the principal cause of the observed decrease of formed blood components. An unstirred heparinase filter preserved platelets and white blood cells better than stirred filters possessing higher, the same, or no heparin-degrading capacity, suggesting that most of the loss of formed blood components is due to stirring and not to the heparinase or the Sepharose support on which the enzyme is immobilized.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Angiogenesis inhibition and tumor regression caused by heparin or a heparin fragment in the presence of cortisone.

Heparin or a heparin fragment administered with cortisone inhibited angiogenesis, caused regression of large tumor masses, and prevented metastases. Oral administration of heparin resulted in the release of non-anticoagulant heparin fragments in the serum which, in the presence of cortisone, had similar anti-angiogenic and antitumor effects. Of all the heparin fragments tested, the most potent inhibition of angiogenesis in the presence of cortisone was provided by a hexasaccharide with a molecular weight of about 1600.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Heparinase: in vivo activity and immunogenicity in rabbits.

Anticoagulation with heparin is required during extracorporeal circulation for hemodialysis and cardiopulmonary bypass as well as during vascular surgery. Reversal of anticoagulation with protamine may be associated with hypotension and rebound anticoagulation and requires stoichiometric doses. Heparinase from Flavobacterium heparinum catalytically degrades heparin and reverses its anticoagulant effect. Heparin was administered to New Zealand White rabbits and plasma levels were assayed with the APTT anticoagulant assay and the azure A chemical assay. Heparinase actively degraded heparin both in vitro in rabbit plasma and in vivo in rabbit blood as determined by both the anticoagulant and chemical assays when compared to control heparin disappearance curves. Antibodies to heparinase were demonstrated by the ELISA technique in rabbits receiving i.v. heparinase. These antibodies, however, did not effect the activity of the enzyme in vitro or in vivo. No toxic effects of heparinase were noted in observations of the animals or in blood and histologic studies. Heparinase, either free or immobilized, may be a useful heparin-reversing agent without the drawbacks of protamine.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

An enzymatic system for removing heparin in extracorporeal therapy.

The need to fully heparinize patients undergoing extracorporeal therapy often leads to hemorrhagic complications. To enable heparinization of only the extracorporeal circuit, a blood filter containing immobilized heparinase was developed. This filter degraded 99 percent of heparin's anticoagulant activity within minutes in both canine and human blood.

Extracorporeal Circulation↗
PubMed1982

Differential anticoagulant activity of heparin fragments prepared using microbial heparinase.

Heparin of an average molecular weight of 13,000 with known polydispersity was degraded using microbial heparinase. The kinetics of this degradation were followed by four assays which measured the anticoagulant activity of the heparin digestion products. Both clotting and amidolytic chromogenic assays were used to measure heparin-potentiated inhibition of both thrombin and Factor Xa. These assays showed different profiles throughout the digestion and were related to the average molecular weight of the digestion products.l The final products of this enzymatic digestion were fractionated on the basis of size and their anticoagulant activities were measured. Fragments causing Factor Xa inhibition but not thrombin inhibition were isolated. Anticoagulant activity was found in a fragment as small as a tetrasaccharide.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Mode of action of heparin lyase on heparin.

Heparinase (heparin lyase, EC 4.2.2.7) prepared from Flavobacterium heparinum was used to digest heparin. The products of digestion were examined with a viscosometric assay at various stages of the reaction to measure their average molecular weight. By comparison with computer simulations of various models, heparinase was shown to act in a random endolytic mode. The relative abundance of intermediates in heparin degradation catalyzed by heparinase immobilized on Sepharose 4B was measured by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) at various time points. The results obtained using HPLC were consistent with a random endolytic mechanism. The heparin digestion products were separated and identified using gel permeation chromatography. The final distributions of heparin degradation products for free and immobilized heparinase were identical. Contaminating sulfatases and glycuronidases which could have subsequently acted on heparin degradation products were not found in significant amounts in the heparinase preparation studied.

Chromatography, Gel↗
PubMed1981

Heparinase production by Flavobacterium heparinum.

Heparinase production by Flavobacterium heparinum in complex protein digest medium, with heparin employed as the inducer, has been studied and improved. The maximum productivity of heparinase has been increased 156-fold over that achieved by previously published methods to 375 U/liter per h in the complex medium. Rapid deactivation of heparinase activity, both specific and total, was observed at the onset of the stationary phase. Nutritional studies on growth and heparinase production showed an obligate requirement for L-histidine and no vitamin requirement. L-Methionine partially relieved the L-histidine requirement. A defined medium containing glucose, ammonium sulfate, basal salts, L-methionine, and L-histidine was developed for growth and heparinase production. The growth rate in this medium was 0.21 h-1, which is 40%, higher than that in complex medium. The maximum volumetric productivity of heparinase in the defined medium was increased to 1,475 U/liter per h, providing a 640-fold increase over that achieved by previously published methods. No rapid deactivation was observed. An examination of alternate inducers for heparinase showed that heparin degradation products, hyaluronic acid, heparin monosulfate, N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, and maltose, induce heparinase in complex medium. An Azure A assay was modified and fully developed to measure the heparin concentration during fermentation and the heparinase specific activity of crude extracts of F. heparinum obtained from sonication, thus negating the need for further purification to measure activity."

Culture Media↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of the activity of polyanions and polycations on the classical and alternative pathways of complement.

Polyanions and polycations inhibit activity of the alternative and classical pathways of complement. We compared polyanions (commercial porcine heparin, chondroitin sulfate A, chondroitin sulfate B (dermatan sulfate), chondroitin sulfate C and heparatin sulfate) with polycations (salmon sperm protamine sulfate, poly-L-lysine, poly-L-arginine, polybrene and a synthetically prepared portion of platelet factor 4) for ability to inhibit alternative and classical pathway activity. The polyanions had considerably more activity on the alternative than on the classical pathway, whereas the polycations more profoundly inhibited classical than alternative pathway activity. For example, heparin, a polyanion, at 1.0 micrograms (7.7 x 10(-7) M based upon an Mr average of 13000)/10(7) cellular intermediates, inhibited alternative pathway activity and classical pathway activity by 77 and 14%, respectively, whereas protamine sulfate, a polycation, at 0.25 micrograms/10(7) cellular intermediates, inhibited these two pathways by 34 and 98%, respectively. These studies suggest that the capacity to inhibit complement activity is a common feature of highly charged substances and the polyanions preferentially inhibit the alternative pathway while polycations preferentially inhibit the classical pathway. In vivo these highly charged substances could play an important role in the tissues in regulating the activity of both pathways of complement.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Heparin and derivatized heparin inhibit zymosan and cobra venom factor activation of complement in serum.

Heparin has been shown to inhibit activity of the alternative, classical and terminal pathways of complement by regulating C1, C1 inhibitor, C4 binding protein, C3b, factor H and S-protein. In vivo, heparin inhibits cobra venom factor activation of complement in a dose-related manner in guinea pigs. However, the ability of heparin and of modified heparin to inhibit complement activation in serum has not been examined systematically. The present study compared commercial heparin with a modified heparin that has reduced anticoagulant activity (N-desulfated, N-acetylated heparin) for ability to inhibit cobra venom factor and zymosan-induced complement activation in guinea pig and human serum. Both heparins inhibited cobra venom factor and zymosan-induced consumption of C3 activity in both human and guinea pig serum. In both serum types, commercial heparin was about twice as active as modified heparin on a weight basis for ability to inhibit cobra venom factor-induced complement activation. Both heparins also inhibited zymosan-induced complement activation in human serum. About four times more heparin was required to inhibit cobra venom factor-induced complement activation in guinea pig serum than in human serum while heparin was more than ten times more active in human serum than in guinea pig serum when zymosan was used as the activator of complement. This study suggests that heparin is considerably more effective in regulating complement activity in humans than in guinea pigs, an animal model in which heparin clearly has in vivo capacity to regulate complement activity. These observations represent an important step in the development of new clinically relevant oligosaccharide-derived pharmacologic agents to regulate complement activity.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Highly swelling hydrogels from ordered galactose-based polyacrylates.

High swelling galactose-based hydrogels have been prepared using a chemoenzymatic procedure. Regioselective acylation of beta-O-methyl-galactopyranoside in nearly anhydrous pyridine with lipase from Pseudomonas cepacia yields the 6-acryloyl derivative (Compound I). Further lipase-catalysed acylation of the monoacrylate derivative in nearly anhydrous acetone yielded 2,6-diacryloyl-beta-O-methyl galactopyranoside (Compound II) that can act as a cross-linker with a structure similar to that of the sugar-based monomer. The high selectivity of enzyme catalysis yielded apparently highly regular hydrogel networks with swelling ratios at equilibrium ranging from 170 to 1100. elastic moduli ranging from 0.005 to 0.088 MPa and calculated mesh sizes ranging from 1160 to 6600 A. These values are far higher than conventional uncharged or lightly charged hydrogels at similar elastic moduli. Gel swelling was fast, with 75% of the equilibrium swelling value reached in a fractional time of 0.17. Non-selective chemical acryloylation of beta-O-methyl galactopyranoside followed by polymerization yielded a far lower-swelling hydrogel than that obtained using selective enzyme catalysis. These results indicate that the highly regular polymer structure achieved by regioselective enzyme-catalysed acylation yields relatively strong and highly swellable materials. Sugar-based hydrogels, such as those described herein, may find particular use as biomaterials because of their high water content, homogeneity, stability and expected non-toxicity. A wide range of pore sizes can be attained, suggesting that they may also be especially useful as matrices for enzyme immobilization and controlled delivery of biological macromolecules.

Absorption↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Parameters affecting the efficiency of affinity-based reversed micellar extraction and separation (ARMES) in glycoprotein purification.

Affinity-based reversed micellar extraction and separation (ARMES) is an effective method for purifying both low and high molecular weight glycoproteins via liquid-liquid extraction. A range of extraction conditions were examined to gain insight into the mechanism of ARMES. Concanavalin A (Con A) was used as the model affinity ligand to bind soybean peroxidase (SBP) and beta-galactosidase as model glycoproteins. Factorial design was used to investigate the effect of various system variables on the extraction of SBP via ARMES. A quadratic model described the systems well, resulting in a standard deviation of 7% between calculated and experimental extraction efficiencies. Sensitivity analysis suggested that the key criteria in ARMES were the NaCl concentration and pH of the aqueous feed phase. Extraction of both glycoproteins decreased above pH 7 but fell to zero only at pH values significantly above the pI of the model glycoproteins and the Con A affinity ligand. It is proposed that the complex of the affinity lectin with the glycoprotein results in a sufficiently hydrophobic species that can be extracted into a reversed micellar organic phase even at pH's far above the pI's of the individual proteins that comprise the complex. This finding has practical considerations for the use of ARMES in the resolution and purification of protein glycoforms.

Glycoproteins↗