lectrochemical and conformational study of the interactions of fibrinogen with acidic polysaccharides

The interactions of fibrinogen wth acidic polysaccharides have been studied in connection with anticoagulant properties of heparin. Despite the high charge density of heparin, a polyelectrolyte complex of fibrinogen and heparin could not be detected at any mixing ratio by the measurement of turbidity, metachromasis with acridine orange, circular dichroism, and viscosity of their mixture solutions. Sodium cellulose sulphate and dextran sulphate, however, which have similar charge densities, formed precipitates of polyelectrolyte complexes with fibrinogen. This difference was presumed to be due to the secondary structure characteristics of heparin in solution as well as the relatively low molecular weight of heparin.