Heparin

Heparin is a highly sulfated glycosaminoglycan widely used as an injectable anticoagulant. It is also used to form an inner anticoagulant surface on various experimental and medical devices such as test tubes and renal dialysis machines. Pharmaceutical grade heparin is commonly derived from mucosal tissues of slaughtered meat animals such as porcine intestine or bovine lung.

Heparin structure

Native heparin is a polymer with a molecular weight ranging from 3 kDa to 40 kDa although the average molecular weight of most commercial heparin preparations is in the range of 12 kDa to 15 kDa. Heparin is a member of the glycosaminoglycan family of carbohydrates (which includes the closely related molecule heparan sulfate) and consists of a variably sulfated repeating disaccharide unit. The main disaccharide units that occur in heparin are shown below. The most common disaccharide unit is composed of a 2-O-sulfated iduronic acid and 6-O-sulfated, N-sulfated glucosamine, IdoA(2S)-GlcNS(6S). For example this makes up 85% of heparins from beef lung and about 75% of those from porcine intestinal mucosa. Not shown below are the rare disaccaharides containing a 3-O-sulfated glucosamine (GlcNS(3S,6S) or a free amine group (GlcNH3+). Under physiological conditions the ester and amide sulfate groups are deprotonated and attract positively charged counterions to form a heparin salt. It is in this form that heparin is usually administered as an anticoagulant.

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