Electrochemical methods for the determination of heparin

A review of studies on the determination of heparin in various samples (pharmaceuticals, biological fluids) by electrochemical methods of analysis in 1976–2014 is presented. Heparin is most often determined in pharmaceuticals by polarography using cationic dyes, and in biological samples, by differential pulse methods on non-stationary mercury electrodes. Works on the creation of heparin-selective electrodes coated with a polyvinylchloride membrane with quarternary ammonium salts are most promising; they can, probably, be used for the creation of portable devices for the determination of heparin.     

A colorimetric sensing ensemble for heparin

A receptor possessing ammoniums and a novel amino acid with a boronic acid side chain was designed and synthesized. The receptor shows good affinity and selectivity for heparin over similar polysaccharides possessing lower anionic charge density. The affinity for heparin is similar to that for a heparin disaccharide, indicating that disaccharidic units are the likely sites for binding to the receptor. The receptor has a potential use for creating a colorimetric assay for heparin.     

Electrophoresis for the analysis of heparin purity and quality

The adulteration of raw heparin with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS) in 2007-2008 produced a global crisis resulting in extensive revisions to the pharmacopeia monographs and prompting the FDA to recommend the development of additional methods for the analysis of heparin purity. As a consequence, a wide variety of innovative analytical approaches have been developed for the quality assurance and purity of unfractionated and low-molecular-weight heparins. This review discusses recent developments in electrophoresis techniques available for the sensitive separation, detection, and partial structural characterization of heparin contaminants. In particular, this review summarizes recent publications on heparin quality and related impurity analysis using electrophoretic separations such as capillary electrophoresis (CE) of intact polysaccharides and hexosamines derived from their acidic hydrolysis, and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) for the separation of heparin samples without and in the presence of its relatively specific depolymerization process with nitrous acid treatment.     

Potentiometric sensor for sensitive and selective detection of heparin

A polymeric membrane ion-selective electrode for determination of heparin is described in this paper.Protamine is incorporated into the organic membrane phase and functions as sensing element for selective recognition of heparin.The proposed membrane electrode exhibits high selectivity for heparin over lipophilic anions such as thiocyanide and salicylate.The potentiometric response to the concentration of heparin is Unear in the range of 0.01-0.4 U/mL and a lower detection limit of 0.005 U/mL can be achieved.     

Simple fluorescence assay for quantification of OSCS in heparin

In 2008, heparin contaminated with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS) penetrated the worldwide market and was associated with severe adverse effects. Feasible and reliable methods to test heparin for adulteration are needed. The objective was to develop a simple approach based on a microplate assay for quantification of heparin and sulfated glycans using the fluorescent heparin sensor polymer-H (polymer-H assay). However, both heparin and OSCS concentration-dependently increase the fluorescence intensity (FI) of polymer-H, so that OSCS in heparin cannot be detected. The idea was a two-step procedure including, first, separation of heparin by degradation with heparinase I, and then measurement of the remaining OSCS. To achieve complete heparin (unfractionated heparin (UFH), enoxaparin) degradation, several conditions (e.g. incubation time and heparinase I concentration) were optimized by using the aXa assay for monitoring. Defined UFH/OSCS mixtures incubated in this way showed a concentration-dependent FI increase in the polymer-H assay (λ _(em) 330 nm, λ _(ex) 510 nm). The sensitivity was unexpectedly high with an LOD/LOQ of 0.5%/0.6% OSCS content in heparin. Further experiments testing UFH/OSCS mixtures in the aXa assay confirmed our hypothesis: OSCS inhibits heparinase I resulting in incomplete heparin degradation and thus an additional FI increase of polymer-H by intact heparin. This two-step microplate fluorescence assay is a sensitive, rapid, and simple method for quantification of OSCS in heparin. In contrast with ¹H NMR and CE, neither expensive equipment nor much experience are required. It could be applied not only in the quality control of heparin, but also in clinical practice, to check the applied heparin preparation when a patient suffers any adverse effect.     

Microarrays of heparin oligosaccharides obtained by nitrous acid depolymerization of isolated heparin

Heparin oligosaccharides derived by nitrous acid depolymerization of heparin have been immobilized on amine-coated glass slides. The formation of a Schiff base creates heparin chips that are a suitable platform for the high-throughput analysis of carbohydrate-protein interactions.     

Synthesis of heparin oligosaccharides

An efficient preparation of rare 2-O-benzoyl-3-O-benzyl-1,6-anhydro-beta-l-idopyranose from commercially available diacetone alpha-d-glucose in five straightforward steps is described here. With this key building block in hand, the total syntheses of heparin oligosaccharides with three, five, seven, and nine sugar units are successfully carried out.     

Development and validation of an ion‐exchange chromatography method for heparin and its impurities in heparin products

An anion‐exchange liquid chromatography method for the determination of heparin and its impurities (dermatan sulfate and oversulfated chondroitin sulfate) was developed using chemometric‐assisted optimization, including multivariate experimental design and response surface methodology. The separation of heparin, dermatan sulfate, and oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (R_s above 2.0) was achieved on a Dionex RF IC IonPac AS22 column with a gradient elution of 10–70% of 2.5 M sodium chloride and 20 mM Tris phosphate buffer (pH 2.1) at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min and UV detection at 215 nm. Method validation shows good linearity (r > 0.99), acceptable precision (%relative standard deviations <11.4%) and trueness (%recovery of 92.3–103.9%) for all analytes. The limits of detection for dermatan sulfate and oversulfated chondroitin sulfate are equivalent to 0.11% w/w (10.5 μg/mL) and 0.07% w/w (7.2 μg/mL), while the limits of quantification are 0.32% w/w (31.5 μg/mL) and 0.22% w/w (22.0 μg/mL) relative to heparin, respectively. The method is specific for heparin, dermatan sulfate, and oversulfated chondroitin sulfate without interference from mobile phase and sample matrices and could be used for accurate quantitation the drug and its impurities in a single run. Applications of the method reveal contents of heparin between 90.3 and 97.8%. Dermatan sulfate and oversulfated chondroitin sulfate were not detected in any of the real‐life samples.     

Electrochemical determination of heparin using methylene blue probe and study on competition of Ba with methylene blue for binding heparin

Cyclic voltammetric investigation of the interaction of methylene blue (MB) with heparin (hep) at a gold electrode is presented. The combination of MB with heparin formed a nonelectroactive complex MB-hep, which resulted in the peak current decrease of MB. The anodic peak current difference of MB was found to be proportional to the concentration of heparin in the range of 0.666-64.5 μg mL⁻¹ with a detection limit of 270 ng mL⁻¹ and a satisfactory result was obtained for the determination of heparin in injection samples. The equilibrium constant for MB-hep complex was calculated to be 7.32 × 10⁵. The dynamic process of competition of Ba²⁺ with methylene blue for binding heparin was monitored using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique. The reaction rate constant between Ba²⁺ and MB-hep was estimated to be 0.0022 s⁻¹.     

Hyphenated techniques for the analysis of heparin and heparan sulfate

The elucidation of the structure of glycosaminoglycan has proven to be challenging for analytical chemists. Molecules of glycosaminoglycan have a high negative charge and are polydisperse and microheterogeneous, thus requiring the application of multiple analytical techniques and methods. Heparin and heparan sulfate are the most structurally complex of the glycosaminoglycans and are widely distributed in nature. They play critical roles in physiological and pathophysiological processes through their interaction with heparin-binding proteins. Moreover, heparin and low-molecular weight heparin are currently used as pharmaceutical drugs to control blood coagulation. In 2008, the health crisis resulting from the contamination of pharmaceutical heparin led to considerable attention regarding their analysis and structural characterization. Modern analytical techniques, including high-performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, played critical roles in this effort. A successful combination of separation and spectral techniques will clearly provide a critical advantage in the future analysis of heparin and heparan sulfate. This review focuses on recent efforts to develop hyphenated techniques for the analysis of heparin and heparan sulfate.     

Experimental proof for the structure of a thrombin-inhibiting heparin molecule

Kinetic studies of thrombin inhibition by antithrombin in the presence of heparin have shown that thrombin binds to heparin in a preformed heparin-antithrombin complex. To study the relative position of the thrombin binding domain and the antithrombin binding domain on a heparin molecule we have designed and synthesized heparin mimetics, which structurally are very similar to the genuine polysaccharide. Their inhibitory properties with respect to factor Xa and thrombin provide experimental evidence that in heparin the thrombin binding domain must be located at the nonreducing end of the antithrombin binding domain to observe thrombin inhibition. As expected, factor Xa inhibition is not affected by elongation of the antithrombin binding pentasaccharide sequence, regardless of the position in which this elongation takes place.     

Preparation of heparin containing SBS-g-VP copolymer membrane for biomaterial usage

Vinyl pyridine (VP) was grafted onto styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) triblock copolymer membrane by UV-radiation induced graft copolymerization without degassing to obtain the SBS-g-VP copolymer membrane. The substituted pyridine groups on the SBS-g-VP graft copolymer membrane were quatermized with iodomethane, and then the membrane was treated with heparin to prepare the heparin containing SBS-g-VP copolymer membrane (SBS-g-VP-HEP). The SBS-g-VP and SBS-g-VP-HEP were characterized by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). The heparin content was determined by toluidine blue heparin assay. The contact angles of dry and wet SBS-g-VP and SBS-g-VP-HEP with different amount of grafting and heparin content were determined. By using Kaelble's equation, the surface energies of SBS-g-VP and SBS-g-VP-HEP were determined. It was found that the surface energy and water content of SBS-g-VP and SBS-g-VP-HEP membrane increased with increasing graft amount and the heparin content, whereas the contact angle decreased. Protein adsorption of fibrinogen and albumin onto the membranes was also performed to evaluate the effect of graft amount and heparin content on the biocompatibility of SBS-g-VP and SBS-g-VP-HEP membranes. The amount of the adsorption of albumin and fibrinogen decreased with increasing grafting amount and heparin content.     

Microwave-assisted sulfonation of heparin oligosaccharides

The use of microwaves for the efficient and fast O-sulfonation of heparin oligosaccharide intermediates has been reported for the first time. Experimental problems typically associated with this chemical reaction, such as poor isolated yields and long reaction times, have been avoided with the present method. The efficiency of this protocol was demonstrated by the high-yielding sulfonation of a series of oligosaccharides using SO₃·Me₃N complex. Microwave-assisted sulfonation is expected to greatly facilitate the preparation of heparin oligosaccharides, a crucial step for understanding the role of these complex carbohydrates in biological processes.     

Interaction of oligopeptides with heparin

This heparin affinity chromatography study revealed some very interesting aspects with respect to oligopeptide retention. The first and most surprising effect observed was that oligopeptides with no aromatic groups were not retained on the column while those with aromatic groups were retained. The aromatic interaction was determined to be related to a charge transfer ‐like interaction as electron donating groups on the aromatic moiety increased retention on the column and electron withdrawing groups on the aromatic moiety deceased retention time. Column retention was dependent on oligopeptide size; the tripeptides were not retained while tetrapeptides and the larger hexapeptides were effectively retained if they contained some aromatic functionality. Retention was pH dependent; low pH's of ∼2.5 were most effective while neutral pH was not effective in retaining the oligopeptides on the heparin affinity column. In addition to the aromatic interaction, retention was dependent on the hydrophobicity of the oligopeptides as well as their ability to hydrogen bond as determined by eluent solvent effects on the heparin affinity column. These results have led us design and carry out other experiments to determine more accurately the type and the degree of oligopeptide to heparin interaction.     

Modular synthesis of heparin oligosaccharides

A general, modular strategy for the first completely stereoselective synthesis of defined heparin oligosaccharides is described. Six monosaccharide building blocks (four differentially protected glucosamines, one glucuronic and one iduronic acid) were utilized to prepare di- and trisaccharide modules in a fully selective fashion. Installation of the alpha-glucosamine linkage was controlled by placing a conformational constraint on the uronic acid glycosyl acceptors thereby establishing a new concept for stereochemical control. Combination of disaccharide modules to form trans-uronic acid linkages was completely selective by virtue of C2 participating groups. Coupling reactions between disaccharide modules exhibited sequence dependence. While the union of many glucosamine uronic acid disaccharide modules did not meet any problems, certain sequences proved not accessible. Elaboration of glucosamine uronic acid disaccharide building blocks to trisaccharide modules by addition of either one additional glucosamine or uronic acid allowed for stereoselective access to oligosaccharides as demonstrated on the example of a hexasaccharide resembling the ATIII-binding sequence. Final deprotection and sulfation yielded the fully synthetic heparin oligosaccharides.     

Microarrays of synthetic heparin oligosaccharides

We present the first preparation of microarrays containing synthetic heparin oligosaccharides in order to elucidate the heparin-protein interactions involved in a variety of biological processes. For this purpose, we have developed a novel linker strategy that is compatible with the protecting-group manipulations required for the synthesis of the highly sulfated oligosaccharides and can also be extended to an automated solid phase approach. Strategic placement of the orthogonally protected amine linker was key to the success of the array construction. These heparin chips allow for the high-throughput screening of oligosaccharides by using approximately picomoles of protein. The potential of the new method was demonstrated by probing the carbohydrate affinity of two heparin-binding growth factors, FGF-1 and FGF-2, that are implicated in the development and differentiation of several tumors.     

High-throughput turbidimetric screening for heparin-neutralizing agents and low-molecular-weight heparin mimetics

Safer heparin-neutralizing agents are currently required to replace protamine, the use of which causes adverse effects such as anaphylaxia. Low-molecular-weight (LMW) heparin mimetics that potentiate antithrombin III (AT) action are also valuable as anti-thrombotics. This paper describes a high-throughput assay for both heparin-neutralizing agents and LMW heparin mimetics without the use of blood preparations. The assay is based on turbidimetric measurement of a solution of collagen, heparin, and a test compound. Native collagen molecules spontaneously form insoluble fibrils when transferred to a physiological buffer, and this process is inhibited by heparin. In the presence of a heparin-neutralizing agent or an LMW heparin mimetic, the inhibitory effect of heparin is canceled and turbidity increase is retrieved. We demonstrated that this assay is effective in detecting potential agents with high reliability (Z' factor=0.9). The screening of a chemical library (34400 compounds) was further performed in a 384-well format, and led to the identification of a novel heparin-neutralizing agent. Since this assay protocol is feasible for an automated high-throughput screening (HTS) system, it could enhance the lead seeking process for drugs related to heparin/heparan sulfate (HS) functions.