Studies on factor VIII-related protein. III. Size distribution and carbohydrate content of human and bovine factor VIII.

Human and bovine factor VIII were isolated from cryoprecipitate of fresh frozen plasma by gel filtration on Sepharose CL-2B. The elution diagrams and SDS-agarose electrophoretic analysis of eluted fractions show no significant differences in the size-distribution of factor VIII aggregates between the two species. Agarose gels were stained for carbohydrate by two methods: (1) the dansyl hydrazine reaction following oxidation with periodic acid and (2) staining with fluorescein-labeled concanavalin A. Results of both procedures indicate that in human factor VIII neither the size distribution nor its ristocetin cofactor activity are related to carbohydrate content. Bovine factor VIII contains slightly less sugar than the human preparation as judged from the relative dansyl hydrazine staining intensities. In contrast to human factor VIII, the binding affinity for concanavalin A of bovine factor VIII was gradually decreased with increasing aggregate size. This finding suggests an impaired accessibility of reactive sugar residues in large aggregates of bovine factor VIII.