A chitosan-arginine conjugate as a novel anticoagulation biomaterial

Chitosan (CS) was modified with arginine using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) as coupling agents. FTIR and 13C NMR spectra showed that arginine was chemically coupled to CS to form a chitosan-arginine conjugate (CS-ArgC). The substitution degree of arginine in CS estimated from elemental analysis was 20.1%. The circular dichroism spectra indicated that the incorporation of arginine significantly altered the conformation of thrombin; while no obvious variation in the conformation of thrombin was observed with the addition of CS. The anticoagulation activity of glucose aldehyde crosslinked CS-ArgC and CS membranes was evaluated by assaying prothrombin time (PT), thrombin time (TT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). The APTT of CS-ArgC membrane was prolonged two times as that of CS counterpart, suggesting that the CS-ArgC is a promising candidate as an anticoagulation biomaterial.