FIGURE 7.

The 3-O-sulfated decasaccharide is the minimal size and modification required for binding to the Stabilin receptors. Both Stab1 (A) and Stab2/315-HARE (B) were incubated with heparin (positive control, black bar) and ultralow molecular weight heparin (7-mer, negative control), 3-O-sulfated oligosaccharides (12b, 13b, 15b, 17b; dark gray bars), and non-3-O-sulfated oligosaccharides (12a, 13a, 15a, 17a; white bars) for 3 h. Endocytosis of each oligonucleotide was confirmed by washing the cells with Hanks' buffered saline solution and determining radioactivity and protein levels, mean ± S.D., n = 3.