Glycocalicin (140 kDa), constituting the main part of glycoprotein Ib (160 kDa), was released from the human platelet membrane by the action of a Ca2+-dependent protease, present in the platelet cytoplasm and liberated during sonication of the platelet suspension. After activation of the protease by Ca2+, the sonicated plateled suspension was subjected to differential centrifugation. The supernatant was applied to a column of wheat germ agglutinin linked to Sepharose 4B; glycocalicin was eluted from the column with 2.5 % (w/v) N-acetylglucosamine.carbohydrate by weight, representing N -as well as 0-glycosidically linked carbohydrate chains. The 0-glycosidic chains were split off by alkaline cleavage in the presence of 3H-labelled NaBH,. The liberated 3H-labelled oligosaccharide-alditols were fractionated on a DEAE-Sephadex A-25 column. The structures of the oligosaccharide-alditols were investigated by 500-MHz 'H-NMR spectroscopy. The major compound was identified as NeuAcu(2+3)GalP(l+ 3)[NeuAca(2+3)Gal~(l-t4)GlcNAc~(l-t6)]GalNAc-ol.Two minor compounds were found to be NeuAcu(2+3)GalP( 1 +3)[NeuAca(2+6)]GalNAc-ol and NeuAca(2-t 3)GalB(1+ 3)GalNAc-01.
Glycocalicin was found to contain 40Platelet membrane glycoproteins play functional roles in vital processes such as platelet aggregation and adhesion 111. Glycoprotein Ib (160 kDa) is one of the main membrane glycoproteins. By the action of a Ca2 +-dependent protease, present in the platelet cytoplasm, glycocalicin (140 kDa), constituting the main part of glycoprotein Ib [2,3], can be cleaved from the platelet surface [4]. Glycoprotein Ib/glycocalicin is probably the receptor for Von Willebrand's factor in the presence of ristocetin [5] and for platelet adhesion to the vessel wall [6]. The carbohydrate chains of glycoprotein Ib may be involved in the aforementioned interaction phenomena.Glycocalicin was reported to have a carbohydrate content of 60 7; (w/w) comprising N-as well as 0-glycosidically linked carbohydrate chains [7 -91. The major 0-linked carbohydrate chain, isolated by Judson et al. [8], was shown to be a hexasaccharide-alditol containing N-acetylneuraminic acid, galactose, N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylgalactosaminitol in the molar ratio 2 :2 : 1 : 1. Here we describe the elucidation, by 500-MHz 'H-NMR spectroscopy, of the primary structures of the prevalent 0-glycosidic carbohydrate chains of glycocalicin. A preliminary account of this study has been presented [lo]. During the preparation of the manuscript of this paper a report by Tsuji et al.[9] appeared describing the structure of the main 0-glycosidic chain, derived by methylation analysis in combination with enzymic degradation studies.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Isolation of glycocalicin from human plateletsPlatelets (40 units were resuspended in 80 ml 10 mM Tris/HCl buffer, pH 8.0, containing 20 mM CaCI,. The suspension was cooled to 4 "C and sonicated for 2 min with a B-30 sonifier (Branson Sonic Power Company, Danbury, USA) (output control 7, 50% duty cycle; pulsed mode). After incubating the s...