Isolation of the porcine heparin tetrasaccharides with glucuronate 2-O-sulfate. Heparinase cleaves glucuronate 2-O-sulfate-containing disaccharides in highly sulfated blocks in heparin.

Eleven tetrasaccharides were isolated from the repeating disaccharide region of porcine intestinal heparin after strong digestion with Flavobacterium heparinase. Their structures were determined by composition analysis, enzymatic analysis, and 1H NMR spectroscopy. Nine of them have the common tetrasaccharide backbone, delta HexA alpha 1-4GlcN alpha 1-4IdoA alpha 1-4GlcN, where delta HexA and IdoA represent 4,5-unsaturated hexuronic acid and L-iduronic acid, respectively, and their structural variations are based upon the positions of sulfate groups. The nine compounds include one hexasulfated, three pentasulfated and five tetrasulfated compounds, and four of them have not been isolated previously as discrete structures. The other two of the 11 tetrasaccharides have the following hitherto unreported structures with novel glucuronate 2-O-sulfate at the internal position: delta HexA(2-sulfate) alpha 1- 4GlcN(N,6-disulfate) alpha 1-4GlcA(2-sulfate) beta 1-4GlcN(N-sulfate) and delta HexA(2-sulfate) alpha 1-4GlcN(N,6-disulfate) alpha 1-4GlcA(2-sulfate) beta 1-4GlcN(N,6-disulfate). Thus, 2-O-sulfated glucuronate in the highly sulfated tetrasaccharide structures typical of heparin has been demonstrated. The former and the latter tetrasaccharides account for 0.31 and 0.32% (w/w) of the starting heparin, respectively. Their yield, however, is an underestimation, since these tetrasaccharide structures in longer sequences will be degraded by heparinase. Although the latter tetrasaccharide described above was unexpectedly cleaved by heparinase into two disaccharide units, the former was not degraded by the enzyme most likely due to the lack of the 6-O-sulfate group on the GlcN residue at the reducing terminus. The results indicate its capability of catalyzing both anti and syn elimination, a property shared by heparitinases I and II and chondroitinase ABC. Both tetrasaccharides were degraded into disaccharides by heparitinase II. Therefore, it is necessary to reevaluate the disaccharide composition of heparin/heparan sulfate or oligosaccharide structures, which were previously determined after heparinase or heparitinase II digestion. It is no longer possible to conclude that the 2-O-sulfated unsaturated uronic acid residues obtained from heparin/heparan sulfate by lyase digestions are always derived from iduronate 2-O-sulfate residues in the original polymer. It is quite possible that the novel glucuronate 2-O-sulfate structure in the highly sulfated region of heparin is involved in some of the biological activities of heparin.