Dextran Sulfate Sodium Salt (8,000 M.Wt)

Dextran sulfate is a polyanionic derivative of dextran produced by esterification of Dextran with chlorosulphonic acid. The sulfur content is approximately 17% which corresponds to an average of 1.9 sulfate groups per glucosyl residue of the dextran molecule. Dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) is the sodium salt which is a white to off-white powder freely soluble in water and salt solutions to form a stable, clear solution. The high purity and reproducible quality enables its application in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industry.

Dextran Sulfate Sodium (DSS) which has proven to have versatile value in Biomedical/clinical research. DSS can be used as an anticoagulant, antiviral as well as antilipemic agent.

Dextran sulfate sodium shows immunologically relevant activities: enhancement and suppression of humoral immunity, polyclonal activation of B-lymphocytes, stimulating even immature B cells, changes in thymocyte reactivity to lectins, enhancement/suppression of cell-mediated immune responses. Precipitates LDL and VLDL lipoproteins - in the presence of magnesium ions, dextran sulfate precipitates low-density lipoproteins from human serum leaving the high-density lipoproteins in the supernatant. Removal of lipoproteins by dextran sulfate precipitation may be useful in the purification of other materials such as beta 2 glycoprotein. Exhibits activity as an adjuvant.

Antiviral and Antienzyme Activity – Baba et al., have shown in In Vitro studies that DSS inhibits the binding of various enveloped viruses including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Herpes Virus (HSV) and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) to cells. Additionally, DSS has also shown to exhibit a potent inhibitory effect on many enzymes, for example hyaluronidase, adenylate cyclase, and amylase. Hofer at al., have shown that DSS induces bacterial translocation in HIV-infected humanized mice.