Comparative pharmacodynamic assessment of the antiangiogenesis activity of heparin and low-molecular-weight heparin fractions: Structure-function relationship

Abstract

Effects of unfractionated heparin and low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) on human microvascular endothelial cell sprouting (tube formation assay) in vitro were determined. Antiangiogenesis efficacy of commercially available LMWHs tinzaparin and enoxaparin in the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model of growth factor-induced angiogenesis was compared. The LMWH tinzaparin was fractionated into different molecular weight (MW) pools by size exclusion chromatography; they inhibited CAM angiogenesis depending on their MW distribution, with optimal inhibition at 8 to 12 kDa and no inhibition at <2 kDa. Tinzaparin demonstrated greater antiangiogenesis efficacy than enoxaparin (P