Low-molecular-weight heparin and ultra-low-molecular-weight heparin are widely used as anticoagulant and antithrombotic drugs. An atmospheric pressure dielectric-barrier discharge procedure was developed to depolymerize heparin to low- or ultra-low-molecular-weight fragments. Dielectric-barrier discharge treatment of heparin resulted in several well-separated and uniform fragments. The structural character of digested fragments below 3,000 Da was elucidated. Expected digestion products such as sulfated disaccharide, sulfated tetrasaccharide, and pentasaccharides with alternatingly-linked N-acetyl glucosamine and iduronic acid were detected. The anticoagulant potential of the digested heparin was tested. The results indicated that dielectric-barrier discharge treatment can produce various molecular weight (MW) heparin fragments and maintain anticoagulant potency.

低分子量肝素和超低分子量肝素被广泛用作抗凝和抗血栓形成药物。开发了一种大气压介电阻挡放电程序以将肝素解聚为低分子量或超低分子量片段。肝素的介电势垒放电处理产生了几个分离良好且均匀的碎片。阐明了3,000 Da以下消化片段的结构特征。检测到了预期的消化产物，例如硫酸化的二糖，硫酸化的四糖和五糖以及交替连接的N-乙酰基葡萄糖胺和艾杜糖醛酸。测试了消化后的肝素的抗凝潜力。