Interaction of the three main components of clupeine with glycosaminoglycans.

The interactions between each of the three main components of clupeine (YI, YII and Z) and the glycosaminoglycans chondroitin sulfate, heparin and hyaluronic acid were studied with circular dichroism spectroscopy. The induced dichroism is a measure of relative complex stability, which increases with the number of sulfate groups on the glycosaminoglycan. Measuring the induced dichroism as a function of mole ratio of disaccharide to arginine establishes the stoichiometry of the complexes. For a given glycosaminoglycan, the induced dichroism depends on the clupeine, increasing the order YI less than YII less than Z.