AIM: To investigate the effect of dermatan sulfate (DS)derivatives on platelet surface P-selectin expression and blood activated protein C (APC) activity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and to clarity the antiinflammatory mechanism of DS derivatives.METHODS: Dermatan sulfate (DS) was sulfated with chlorosulfonic acid to prepare polysulfated dermatan sulfate (PSDS). The major disaccharides of DS and PSDS were determined by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR) and 13C-NMR. Both DS and PSDS were depolymerized with hydrogen peroxide. The fragments were separated by gel filtration chromatography. The effects of DS derivatives on P-selectin expression were assayed by ELISA method,and blood APC activity was assayed by the synthetic chromogenic substrate method.RESULTS: The major disaccharides of DS and PSDS were IdoA-1→3-GalNAc-4-SO3 and IdoA-2SO3-1→3-GalNAc4, 6-diSO3, respectively. Compared with the adenosine diphosphate stimulated group and IBD control group, DS and its derivatives all had significant inhibitory effects on P-selectin expression (P＜0.01), but there was no difference between DS-derived oligosaccharides (DSOSs) and PSDS-derived oligosaccharides (PSDSOSs). The experiments on APC activity showed that DS and its derivatives all enhanced APC activity. The most active DSOS was the one with a relative molecular weight (Mr) of 4 825, which enhanced the APC activity from 106.5±11.5% to 181.8±22.3% (P＜0.01). With the decrease of Mr, the activity of DSOSs decreased gradually. The effect of PSDS on APC activity enhancement was more significant than that of DS, and the APC activity was raised to 205.2±22.1% (P＜0.01). All the PSDSOSs were more active than DSOSs on the basis of comparable Mr. With the decrease of Mr, the activity of PSDSOSs increased gradually, and the most active PSDSOS was PSDSOS3 with Mr of 2 749, which enhanced the APC activity to 331.2±27.8% (P＜0.01), then the activity of PSDSOSs decreased gradually.CONCLUSION: DS and its derivatives can significantly inhibit P-selectin expression on platelet surface, but the effect has no correlation with DS molecular mass and sulfation.The effect of DS or its derivatives on APC activity at molecular level involves complex mechanisms that depend on the molecular mass, the degree of sulfation, and the heterogeneous composition of DS. On the same molecular size, the higher the degree of DS sulfation, the more significant the effect on enhancing APC activity.