Effects of mannosylated glycopolymers on specific interaction to bone marrow hematopoietic and progenitor cells derived from murine species

Poly[N-pvinylbenzyl-O-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-4)D-glucoamide], poly[N-pvinylbenZyl-O-D-glucopyranosyl-(14)-D-glucoamide], and poly [N-pvinylbenzyl-O-mannopyranosyl-(1-4)-D-gluconamide] (referred to as PVLA, PVMA, and PV-Man) are polystyrene derivatives that contain galactose, glucose, and mannose moieties, which interact with hematopoiefic cells (HCs). To clarify the specific interaction between the glucopolymers and hernatopoictic cells, glycopolymers labeled with fluorescent isothiocyanate (FITC) were used to follow the specific interaction, which was visualized by confocal laser microscopy. We found that PV-Man binds strongly to HCs, probably because of a specific interaction mediated by specific receptors present on the cell membrane, while some cytotoxicity when was observed when PV-Man interacted with the cell membrane. The fluorescence intensity between PV-Man and HCs was up to four-fold (0.14 +/- 0.04) that of PVMA and PVLA with hernatopoietic HCs (0.033 +/- 0.01). Moreover, cellular fluorescence increased significantly with increasing incubation time and increasing polymer concentration. Using hernatopoietic line age-specific antibodies, cells were stained and analyzed by flow cytometry to confirm which HCs showed specific binding with glycopolymers, especially hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells (c-kit+), B-lymphocyte progenitor cells (B220+), monocyte cells (CD11b+), and erythrocytes (Ter119+). (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.