Heparinase I – 5.0 IU

Technical Notes

The disaccharide cleaved by Heparinase I is common in heparin but it is quite rare in HS where it is confined to the sulfated domains. Thus Heparinase I will attack HS only in the S-domains bringing about limited scission of the polymer chain. This is a very valuable and under exploited property of Heparinase I. For example Heparinase I can be used to determine the spacing between S-domains in HS. This spacing is reflected in the size of the HS fragments that resist the action of the enzyme. Heparinase I can also be used to identify biological properties of HS that depend upon the integrity of the S-domains. For example HS-activation of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) is inhibited by treatment with Heparinase I (but not by Heparinase III).