Abstract:

Sulfated saccharides are an essential part of extra-cellular matrices, and they are involved in a large number ofinteractions. Sulfated saccharide matrices in organisms accu-mulate heavy metal ions in addition to other essential metalions. Accumulation of heavy metal ions alters the functionof the organisms and cells, resulting in severe and irreversi-ble damage. The effect of the sulfation pattern of saccha-rides on heavy metal binding preferences is enigmatic be-cause the accessibility to structurally defined sulfated sac-charides is limited and because standard analytical tech-niques cannot be used to quantify these interactions. We de-veloped a new strategy that combines enzymatic andchemical synthesis with surface chemistry and label-freeelectrochemical sensing to study the interactions betweenwell-defined sulfated saccharides and heavy metal ions. Byusing these tools we showed that the sulfation pattern ofhyaluronic acid governs their heavy metal ions binding pref-erences.