The distribution of carbohydrate in the plasmin resistant core fragments (D,E) of human fibrinogen

Abstract

Carbohydrate analysis of human fibrinogen and its plasmin induced degradation products (D,E) gave molar ratios for fibrinogen of 7:18:31, for fragment D of 3:6:11 and for fragment E of 2:8:11 with respect to N- acetylneuraminic acid, N- acetylhexosamine and hexose. The ability to account for all the carbohydrate of fibrinogen following its degradation with plasmin confirms the suggested scheme of degradation in which one mole of fibrinogen produces one mole of E and two moles of D. The data are also consistent with the hypothesis that the Aα chain contains no carbohydrate, the Bβ chain contributes carbohydrate to the D fragment and the γ chain to the E fragment. The results indicate that the β chain may contain two carbohydrate side chains of 9 or 10 residues and the γ chain contains one side chain of 9 or 10 residues.