J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 264, Issue 3, 1570-1577, Jan, 1989
Resistance of heparinase-derived heparin fragments to biotransformation
AK Larsen, KG Rice, RJ Linhardt, G Wogan and R Langer
Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
The biotransformation of heparinase-derived heparin fragments was examined
via a combined approach using 35S-labeled heparin fragments as well as
unlabeled chemically defined heparin fragments. Rats dosed with either
[35S]di-, tetra-, hexa-, or octasaccharide fragments (2 mg/kg body weight,
intravenously) excreted 63-69% of the injected radioactivity into the urine
within 24 h with two-thirds being excreted during the first 6 h. Gel
permeation chromatography of the urinary material shows that the tetra- and
octasaccharides have undergone minor (approximately 5%) depolymerization
whereas no change was observed for the di- and hexasaccharides. No
N-desulfation was demonstrated for any of the substances. The hexa- and
octasaccharide metabolites present in the urine 24 h after dosing exhibited
the same antifactor Xa activity as that of the injected material. A
chemically defined trisulfated disaccharide and a hexasulfated
tetrasaccharide were prepared and dosed in a similar manner. Only one
metabolite was recovered from animals dosed with disaccharide. This
compound was characterized by anion exchange chromatography, proton nuclear
magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry,
and mass spectrometry and shown to be identical to the injected
disaccharide. Five metabolites were isolated from the urine of rats dosed
with the hexasulfated tetrasaccharide. The major metabolite, consisting of
at least 65% of the total, was characterized as described for the
disaccharide and shown to be identical to the injected compound. The
remaining material appeared to be disaccharides and, possibly, a
tetrasaccharide conjugate. Taken together, our results show that the
heparinase-derived heparin fragments are very resistant to
biotransformation compared with heparin and endogenous heparin fragments.
These fragments may therefore be useful in defining structure activity
relationships in vivo.