The heparin-catalyzed inactivation of activated coagulation factors by antithrombin III (AT III) has mostly been studied for isolated serine proteases. However, we decided to study the action of heparin and AT III under more physiological conditions, i.e. during the activation of factor X by factor IXa in the presence of phospholipid and calcium. Thereby we made use of a mathematical model which describes the generation of factor Xa by factor IXa, phospholipid and calcium in the presence of AT III and heparin. Fitting the experimental factor Xa generation curve to a set of equations gave the pseudo-first-order rate constants of factor Xa and factor IXa. In a first approach we examined the effect of AT III alone on factor X activation. We found that the second order rate constant of inhibition of formed factor Xa was 2 x 10 5M-1min-1 , whereas that of factor Xa in free solution was 5 x 10 5M-1min-1 , indicating that phospholipid-bound factor X competes with AT III for factor Xa. The second order rate constant of inhibiton of factor IXa, either in the presence or absence of accessory components, was 8 x 103 M-1min-1. Unfractionated heparin (UFH; 168 USP units/mg) was found to stimulate the inhibition of generated factor Xa by AT III (200 nM) with 0.1 min-1 per nM of UFH, and a synthetic pentasaccharide (PS; 4000 anti-Xa units/mg) stimulated this inhibition with only 0.03 min-1per nM. Due to the presence of phospholipid-bound factor X this stimulation was 4-fold less when compared with factor Xa in free solution. At UFH concentrations higher than 3 nM, and PS concentrations exceeding 10 nM hardly any active factor Xa generation could be measured because of the rapid inactivation of factor Xa whereas factor IXa was not inhibited. Using a factor IXa assay we found that PS, even at relatively high concentrations, had no effect on factor IXa inactivation by AT III (200 nM), both in the presence and absence of accessory components. The inactivation of factor IXa by AT III (200 nM) during factor X activation was stimulated by UFH with 1.6 x 10 -2min-1 per nM of UFH. Surprisingly, this was 4-fold more when compared with factor IXa in the absence of accessory components. We established that calcium stimulates the heparin-dependent inhibition of factor IXa.