WATER-SOLUBLE ENDOTOXIN CHITOSAN COMPLEXE S AND THEIR ACTION ON PLATELET-AGGREGATION

Formation of stable complexes between lipopolysaccharides as endotoxin s of Esherichia coli and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and chitozan in a queous solution was demonstrated using sedimentation technique. The ra tio of LPS and chitozan in the complexes was shown to vary within the range of 1 : 1 to 1 : 5 (w/w) in the relation to the concentration of the components used. The effect of LPS, chitozan and the complex LPS-c hitozan on the aggregation of platelets was studied in experiments in vitro. The platelet aggregation with LPS was found to increase by an a verage of 11% in comparison with the control tests while the LPS-chito zan complex was shown to decrease the aggregation ability of platelets by an average of 8% at least. Thus, our data demonstrating chitozan a nd its complexes with endotoxins may be successfully applied for the p rotection of blood cells from heavy damage by endotoxins of gram - neg ative bacteria.