Sulfated levan from Halomonas smyrnensis as a bioactive, heparin-mimetic glycan for cardiac tissue engineering applications.

Chemical derivatives of levan from Halomonas smyrnensis AAD6(T) with low, medium and high levels of sulfation were synthesized and characterized by FTIR and 2D-NMR. Sulfated levan samples were found to exhibit anticoagulation activity via the intrinsic pathway like heparin in a dose-dependent manner. Exceptionally high heparin equivalent activity of levan sulfate was shown to proceed via thrombin inhibition where decreased Factor Xa activity with increasing concentration was observed in antithrombin tests and above a certain concentration, levan sulfate showed a better inhibitor activity than heparin.