Heparin & Heparan Sulfate

Properties of the anticoagulant glycosaminoglycan heparin, low-molecular-weight heparins, the synthetic pentasaccharide, and cell-surface heparan sulfate — molecular weight, anticoagulant potency, sulfation, protein binding and composition.

⚗︎ Harvested & verified via the GlycoDataDigest (GDD) pipeline
183
Measurements
89
Molecules / species
10
Properties
68
Literature sources
⚖️ Mw 28 pts · kDa
🩸 anti-Xa 13 pts · IU/mg
🩸 anti-IIa 10 pts · IU/mg
⚖️ Xa:IIa 13 pts · ratio
🧪 Sulf 26 pts · /disacc
🟡 S% 6 pts · %
Charge 11 pts · /disacc
🔗 Kd 40 pts · µM
🧩 Disacc % 29 pts · %
📏 DP 7 pts · DP
At a glance — typical values by gag type

Median [min–max] (n) in each property's natural unit. Click a property above to filter the table; click any column header to sort.

GAG type Mw (kDa)anti-Xa (IU/mg)anti-IIa (IU/mg)Xa:IIa (ratio)Sulf (/disacc)S% (%)Charge (/disacc)Kd (µM)Disacc % (%)DP (DP)
heparin (UFH) 16.5 [12.0–20.1] n=6 180.0 [111.0–200.0] n=7 149.0 [107.0–220.0] n=6 1.0 n=1 2.7 [2.5–3.0] n=6 11.5 [9.6–13.5] n=3 2.9 [2.3–3.7] n=4 0.1 [0.0–20.0] n=21 53.5 [0.8–85.0] n=11 15000.0 [14618.0–17000.0] n=3
LMWH 4.6 [3.6–6.5] n=10 100.0 [100.0–112.5] n=3 192.5 [155.0–230.0] n=2 3.2 [1.7–8.0] n=11 2.0 [1.8–2.1] n=3 0.1 n=1 73.1 [15.2–76.8] n=3 3190.0 n=1
heparan sulfate 55.0 [3.4–204.0] n=7 1.0 [0.0–2.0] n=7 0.9 [0.8–0.9] n=4 0.0 n=3 26.0 [0.5–70.7] n=13 30000.0 n=1
heparin oligosaccharide 3.6 [1.7–5.4] n=2 2.0 [1.4–2.6] n=2 0.7 [0.0–34.0] n=8
synthetic 1.7 n=2 700.0 n=3 0.0 n=2 0.0 [0.0–3.5] n=7
heparinoid (other) 4.4 n=1 1.9 [1.0–4.0] n=8 13.6 n=1 2.4 [2.1–2.7] n=2
Browse all measurements
All heparin (UFH)LMWHheparan sulfateheparin oligosaccharidesyntheticheparinoid (other)
# Molecule / species GAG type Property Value Method Conditions Ref (DOI) Comments
1 fondaparinux synthetic anti-IIa activity 0IU/mg Review
synthetic pentasaccharide; selectively inhibits factor Xa only, no anti-IIa (thrombin) activity
synthetic pentasaccharide; selectively inhibits factor Xa only, no anti-IIa (thrombin) activity | mechanism: too short to bridge antithrombin and thrombin
10.3390/ph16040584 medium
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"Conversely, inhibition of FXa requires only the binding of the pentasaccharide to AT-III, without the requirement for FXa to also bind to heparin. LMW heparins therefore have greater anti-Xa activity than anti-IIa activity." — Fondaparinux (pentasaccharide) is too short to form the ternary anti-IIa bridge, so anti-IIa = 0; corroborates existing record. [Shute JK, 2023, confidence: medium]
2 fondaparinux synthetic anti-IIa activity 0IU/mg Review
no anti-IIa (anti-thrombin) activity; selective Factor Xa inhibitor
no anti-IIa (anti-thrombin) activity; selective Factor Xa inhibitor
10.1186/1477-9560-9-5 high
View
"Fondaparinux cannot inhibit thrombin and its anticoagulant activity is entirely dependent on its ability to selectively inhibit Factor Xa" — Qualitative: anti-IIa activity is effectively zero (cannot inhibit thrombin/factor IIa) [Fareed J, Adiguzel C, Thethi I, 2011, confidence: high]
3 heparin (UFH) - bovine lung heparin (UFH) anti-IIa activity 127IU/mg Experiment
antithrombin-dependent anti-IIa (AT:aIIa) potency, mean of ten batches vs 6th International Standard for UFH
antithrombin-dependent anti-IIa (AT:aIIa) potency, mean of ten batches vs 6th International Standard for UFH | source species: bovine lung | assay: AT-dependent anti-IIa | n batches: 10
10.3390/ph10030059 high
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"For ten batches of bovine lung heparin, the AT:aXa, AT:aIIa and APTT (130, 127, 121 IU/mg respectively) activities were similar (ANOVA, p > 0.01), but HCII:aIIa (220 IU/mg) activity was significantly higher than all other activities (ANOVA, p < 0.0001)." — AT-dependent anti-IIa for bovine lung heparin. [Hogwood J, Mulloy B, Gray E, 2017, confidence: high]
4 heparin (UFH) - bovine lung heparin (UFH) anti-IIa activity 220IU/mg Experiment
heparin cofactor II-dependent anti-IIa (HCII:aIIa) potency, mean of ten batches vs 6th International Standard for UFH
heparin cofactor II-dependent anti-IIa (HCII:aIIa) potency, mean of ten batches vs 6th International Standard for UFH | source species: bovine lung | assay: HC-II-dependent anti-IIa | n batches: 10
10.3390/ph10030059 high
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"but HCII:aIIa (220 IU/mg) activity was significantly higher than all other activities (ANOVA, p < 0.0001)." — Heparin cofactor II-dependent anti-IIa for bovine lung heparin. [Hogwood J, Mulloy B, Gray E, 2017, confidence: high]
5 heparin (UFH) - bovine mucosal heparin (UFH) anti-IIa activity 133IU/mg Experiment
antithrombin-dependent anti-IIa (AT:aIIa) amidolytic assay vs USP heparin reference standard
antithrombin-dependent anti-IIa (AT:aIIa) amidolytic assay vs USP heparin reference standard | source species: bovine intestinal mucosa | assay: AT-dependent amidolytic | uncertainty: +/-7.5 SD
10.3389/fmed.2018.00360 high
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"The potencies of bovine heparin were significantly lower at 132.4 +/- 5.0 and 133.0 +/- 7.5, respectively, based on anti-Xa and anti-IIa activity (p = 0.003 for anti-Xa and anti-IIa, Mann-Whitney test)." — Directly-stated anti-IIa specific activity for bovine mucosal heparin API; lower than porcine. [Jeske W, Kouta A, Farooqui A, et al., 2019, confidence: high]
6 heparin (UFH) - porcine mucosal heparin (UFH) anti-IIa activity 183.4IU/mg Experiment
antithrombin-dependent anti-IIa (AT:aIIa) amidolytic assay vs USP heparin reference standard
antithrombin-dependent anti-IIa (AT:aIIa) amidolytic assay vs USP heparin reference standard | source species: porcine intestinal mucosa | assay: AT-dependent amidolytic | uncertainty: +/-1.7 SD
10.3389/fmed.2018.00360 high
View
"Porcine heparins exhibited mean anti-Xa and anti-IIa potencies of 184.6 +/- 2.8 and 183.4 +/- 1.7 U/mg, respectively." — Directly-stated anti-IIa specific activity for porcine mucosal heparin API. [Jeske W, Kouta A, Farooqui A, et al., 2019, confidence: high]
7 heparin (UFH) - porcine mucosal heparin (UFH) anti-IIa activity 107IU/mg Experiment
antithrombin-dependent anti-IIa (AT:aIIa) potency vs 6th International Standard for UFH, parallel-line bioassay
antithrombin-dependent anti-IIa (AT:aIIa) potency vs 6th International Standard for UFH, parallel-line bioassay | source species: porcine intestinal mucosa | assay: AT-dependent anti-IIa | standard: 6th International Standard for UFH
10.3390/ph10030059 high
View
"AT:aIIa potencies (107 IU/mg) were lower and the HCII:aIIa activities (165 IU/mg) were higher than AT:aXa and APTT estimates." — AT-dependent anti-IIa potency (porcine heparin); contrasts with the higher HC-II-dependent value below. [Hogwood J, Mulloy B, Gray E, 2017, confidence: high]
8 heparin (UFH) - porcine mucosal heparin (UFH) anti-IIa activity 165IU/mg Experiment
heparin cofactor II-dependent anti-IIa (HCII:aIIa) potency vs 6th International Standard for UFH
heparin cofactor II-dependent anti-IIa (HCII:aIIa) potency vs 6th International Standard for UFH | source species: porcine intestinal mucosa | assay: HC-II-dependent anti-IIa | standard: 6th International Standard for UFH
10.3390/ph10030059 high
View
"AT:aIIa potencies (107 IU/mg) were lower and the HCII:aIIa activities (165 IU/mg) were higher than AT:aXa and APTT estimates." — Heparin cofactor II-dependent anti-IIa potency (porcine heparin). [Hogwood J, Mulloy B, Gray E, 2017, confidence: high]
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Property glossary

Full names, units and plain-language definitions for the 10 properties on this page. (These notes also appear when you hover a property pill or a table column header.)

⚖️ Molecular weight kDa
Average molecular weight (Mw) of the polysaccharide chain.
🩸 Anti-Xa activity IU/mg
Anti-factor Xa potency — anticoagulant activity against clotting factor Xa.
🩸 Anti-IIa activity IU/mg
Anti-factor IIa potency — anticoagulant activity against thrombin (factor IIa).
⚖️ Anti-Xa / anti-IIa ratio ratio
Ratio of anti-Xa to anti-IIa activity — selectivity; higher in low-molecular-weight heparins.
🧪 Degree of sulfation /disacc
Average number of sulfate groups per disaccharide unit.
🟡 Sulfur content %
Sulfur (sulfate) content of the chain by mass.
Charge density /disacc
Average negative charges (sulfate + carboxylate) per disaccharide unit.
🔗 Protein binding affinity (Kd) µM
Dissociation constant Kd for binding to a protein/lectin (lower Kd = tighter binding).
🧩 Disaccharide composition %
Mol % of a specific disaccharide unit within the chain (unit named in Conditions).
📏 Degree of polymerization DP
Chain length — number of monosaccharide (or disaccharide) units.