Meizothrombin (MT) and meizothrombin des Fragment 1 (MT1) are intermediates in the conversion of prothrombin to α-thrombin (αTH). Due to their transient character, properties of these enzymes are difficult to establish. Isolation of MT1 was achieved by affinity chromatography on D-Phe-Pro-Arginal (FPRal)immobilized on Affi-Gel 10 as originally employed for thrombin purification (Patel et al. Biochim.Biophys. Acta 748,321 (1983)). Human prethrombin 1 was activated with the purified activator from Echis carinatus venom in the presence of Ca++;, benzamidine and FPRal gel at pH 7.8. After exhaustive washing the MT1 was eluted with 0.1 M hydroxylamine in 0.15 M Na acetate buffer, pH 5.5. Under these conditions the MT1 is stable and can bestored at -70°C. Upon changing the pH of the preparation to 8.0, complete conversion into aTH occurred atroom temperature within 48 hours. Homogeneity of both preparations wasdemonstrated by PAGE. The Km and ke, values for MT1 measured on Tos-Gly-Pro-Arg pNA(0.1 M NaCl, 0.01 M TRIS, 0.01 M HEPES, 0.1% PEG, pH 7.8, 25°C) were 15.7 /iM and 126 s-1. The kinetic con stants for the aTH resulting from autocatalytic degradation of MT1 were indistinguishable from those previously established forαTH obtained by Xa activation i.e. 4.77 /μM and 126 s-1. Clotting activity of MT1 was found to be only one fifth as high as that of the resulting μTH(746 u/mg vs. 3900 u/mg as tested using the NIH standard) .Inhibitionof MTl by antithrombin III was alsomuch less rapid than αTH andmost importantly, it was not affected by high affinity heparin( Mr20,300). Under conditions of the experiment (0.3 M NaCl, 0.0rl M TRIS, 0.01 M HEPES, 2.5 mM EDTA, 0.1% PEG, pH 7.8, 25°C; [ATIII] 100 nM, [E] 10 nM), the pseudo first order rate constants in the absence of heparin were 4.04 × 10-3V1 (MTl) and 1.13 × 10-3V1 (αTH), giving apparent second order rate constants of 4.04 × 103 and 1.13 × 10-4M-1s-1. In the presence of 4.5 nM of heparin the observed first order rate constant for MTl remained unchanged whereas it increased to 6.241 × 10-3s-1 (5.5 fold) for αTH. This apparent lack of an effect of heparin may be of significance in vivo.Supported by a Matching Grant from the American National Red Cross and by the Southeastern Michigan Blood Service.
Four-angle saturation transfer (FAST) method for measuring creatine kinase reaction rates in vivo
