title: The characterization and molecular structure of hepatoproliferin: a liver regeneration factor from rat hepatocytes.
abstract: Hepatoproliferin (HPF) was purified from regenerating rat livers as an oligomeric entity (big-HPF) from which the monomeric form (small-HPF) could be obtained using disaggregating conditions. By using a solid-phase ion-exchange method, small-HPF was forced to dissociate into two charged ionic species, namely norepinephrine (NE) and a sulfonated disaccharide with a molecular structure consisting of D-glucuronic acid bound to glucosamine 2,6-disulfate by a beta-glycosidic linkage having a beta, 1 --> 4 configuration. Monomeric HPF stemmed from the formation of three electrostatic bonds between the protonated amine groups of three norepinephrines, of which two bind to the deprotonated sulfonic groups of glucosamine 2,6-disulfate and one to the deprotonated carboxylic group of glucuronic acid, to constitute a tightly associated complex with a molecular mass of 1046 Da. This represents one of the two purified isoforms of small-HPF. The other isoform, which has a lower molecular mass of 877 Da, lack one NE, leaving the weaker carboxylic group of glucuronic acid unoccupied, to constitute a more acidic form of HPF.
authors.affiliation: MRF Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Surgery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. mmjo@finit.co.za
authors.forename: Mathys M J
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Oosthuizen
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lambrechts
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001192:Arylsulfatases / Q000378:metabolism; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D004187:Disaccharides / Q000032:analysis / Q000494:pharmacology; D005966:Glucuronidase / Q000378:metabolism; D006595:Hexosamines / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D008115:Liver Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D004187:Disaccharides; D006595:Hexosamines; C492881:hepatoproliferin, rat; D001192:Arylsulfatases; D005966:Glucuronidase; D009638:Norepinephrine