Heparin, Heparin Fractions, and the Atherosclerotic Process

Cell biology of arterial proteoglycans.

“…The reader is also referred to a recent review that discusses heparin's effect on other arterial processes. 172 Although most of the evidence indicates that the ability of heparin and heparan sulfate to inhibit growth is not caused by their interaction with peptide growth factors to inactivate them, a variety of peptide growth factors with mitogenic activity toward smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells display heparin binding affinity. 172 -182 Endothelial cell growth factor (ECGF) is a polypeptide mitogen that has been purified and characterized from bovine neural tissue.…”

Rapid Increase in the Leukotriene B4 Concentration of Cultured Rat Hepatocytes by Heparin

“…After removal of the medium by aspiration, monolayers of hepatocytes in the dish were further incubated for 0-20 min in Williams' medium E containing 2% bovine serum albumin with or without the addition of heparin. Determination of LTB 4 Content ---The LTB 4 content of hepatocytes incubated with or without heparin was measured. The incubated hepatocytes (0.9 × 10 6 cells) were homogenized in ice-cold 5% trichloroacetic acid (TCA), then centrifuged at 6000 × g for 10 min.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] It is ubiquitous in animal tissues, particularly in the liver, lung and intestine. 2,4) The physiological roles and action mechanisms of heparin in these tissues are still unclear.…”

“…5,6) In addition, LTB 4 may have an additional activity as an endogenous ligand for the transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha. 7) Moreover, Striggow and Ehrlich have shown that LTB 4 activated the ryanodine receptor, but not the 1,4,5-triphosphate-gated channel, and increased the intracellular Ca 2+ content.…”

“…8) It has been reported that LTB 4 is synthesized in leukocytes and Kupffer cells, but also that hepatocytes are capable of LTB 4 synthesis. 5,6,[9][10][11] Therefore, here we investigated the production of LTB 4 by heparin in cultured rat hepatocytes.…”