Electrophoresis of glycosaminoglycans isolated from normal human plasma. Direct evidence for the presence of a heparin-like molecule.

It has frequently been suggested that there may normally be small quantities of heparin in human blood, but amounts so small that their direct demonstration is not possible by available methods [1-4]. In this communication, we provide direct electrophoretic visualization that heparin or a closely related substance, is present in normal human plasma. After isolating glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) from 2-3 mls of plasma, a modification of the discontinuous high voltage electrophoretic method developed by Cappelletti et al. was used to successfully separate and identify the GAGs present in six normal adults (4 men and 2 women). In each case, in addition to chondroitin-4-SO4, chondroitin-6-SO4, and heparan-SO4, we were able to show the presence of a band which corresponds to that of heparin.