Immobilization of heparin: approaches and applications.

Heparin, an anticoagulant, has been used in many forms to treat various diseases. These forms include soluble heparin and heparin immobilized to supporting matrices by physical adsorption, by covalent chemical methods and by photochemical attachment. These immobilization methods often require the use of spacers or linkers. This review examines and compares various techniques that have been used for the immobilization of heparin as well as applications of these immobilized heparins. In the applications reviewed, immobilized heparin is compared with soluble heparin for efficient and versatile use in each of the various applications.