No abstract

Polylysine has been demonstrated to dramatically accelerate the rate of the factor Xa catalyzed activation of both prothrombin and prethrombin 1. Under the present experimental conditions (pH 8.0, 23 C), no detectable activation of prothrombin or prethrombin 1 occurs with either factor Xa or polylysine alone. The activation of prethrombin 2, the direct precursor of alpha-thrombin, by factor Xa is not stimulated by polylysine. The activation of either prothrombin or prethrombin 1 by factor Xa in the presence of polylysine is partially inhibited by the presence of 5 mM CaCl2. Electrophoretic analysis in sodium dodecyl sulfate showed that the products that were formed in the above activation system comigrated with the reaction products derived from prothrombin activated by factor Xa in the presence of calcium ions and phospholipid. It is suggested that polylysine stimulates the factor Xa-catalyzes activation of prothrombin by replacing the combination of calcium ions and factor V.

SummaryCrude bovine Factor VIII preparations have been modified by passage over a column of trypsin-agarose. Factor VIII prepared without an early adsorption step utilizing either barium sulfate or aluminum hydroxide gel generated significant Factor Xa activity by passage over such a column and was unsuitable for further characterization. Factor VIII prepared using adsorption with barium sulfate contained no Factor Xa activity after passage over trypsin-agarose. This trypsin-modified material showed a decreased molecular size as judged by behavior on gel filtration and an increased rate of reaction with bovine Factor IXa.

Our intention is to study the interaction of rabbit thrombin with antithrombin III (AT-III) in vitro and in vivo. After activation of crude prothrombin with tissue thromboplastin and CaCl2, thrombin was purified and showed two species of thrombin with molecular weights of 36,000 and 39,000 daltons as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate discontinuous gel electrophoresis. Rabbit AT-III was purified using a heparin agarose column and had a molecular weight of 55,000 daltons. The inhibition of thrombin by AT-III was followed by fibrinogen clotting assays and an AT-III-thrombin complex was observed on gel electrophoresis. For the in vivo studies both thrombin and AT-III were radiolabelled with Na125i using the solid state lactoperoxidase method and retained 99% of the pre-iodinated specific activity. Radiolabelled thrombin and a radiolabelled AT-III-thrombin complex were injected into different rabbits. The rate of removal of both was very similar with a half-life of approximately 9 hours. When radiolabelled AT-III was injected, the half-life was approximately 60 hours. Since the disappearance rate of thrombin more closely approximates that of the preformed AT-III-thrombin complex and is clearly shorter than the turnover rate of AT-III, the possibility is raised that thrombin combines in vivo with a native inhibitor such as AT-III and may in fact be removed from the circulation as a complex rather than as a native molecule.