Comparative affinity of synthetic multi-antennary galactosyl derivatives for the Gal/GalNAc receptor of rat hepatocytes and peritoneal macrophages

The binding affinity of synthetic bi- and triantennary galactose ligands (K ichler, A. and Schuber, F. (1995) Glycoconj. Chem., 12, 275-281) has been d etermined for the Gal/GalNAc receptors of rat hepatocytes and macrophages. The highest affinities were observed with the triantennary structures, in a greement with the clustering effect known to occur with more complex oligos accharide structures. However, these ligands present very similar affinitie s for the receptors of both cell types and thus lack the necessary selectiv ity for specific hepatocyte targeting.