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The Identity of the Metachromatic Substance of Basophilic Leucocytes
Author(s) -
Olsson I.,
Berg B.,
Fransson L. Å.,
Nordén A.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1600-0609
pISSN - 0036-553X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0609.1970.tb01929.x
Subject(s) - basophilic , metachromasia , glucosamine , polysaccharide , heparin , hyaluronidase , chemistry , population , biochemistry , centrifugation , microbiology and biotechnology , chromatography , biology , pathology , medicine , enzyme , staining , genetics , environmental health
The metachromatic anionic polysaccharides of basophilic leucocytes from a patient with chronic myeloid leukaemia displaying a very high basophilic leucocyte count has been examined. A polysaccharide containing glucosamine was isolated. It was resistent to testicular hyaluronidase but sensitive to bacterial heparinase and incorporated ( 35 S)‐sulphate and ( 14 C)‐glucosamine indicating its identy with heparin. Density gradient centrifugation of the cells showed that the heparin‐like substance was present in the basophilic leucocytes. Gel chromatography demonstrated that only the largest molecules of the polysaccharide population incorporated ( 14 C)‐glucosamine while a pool of smaller molecules remained unlabelled.