INTERACTION OF HEPARIN WITH HUMAN ALPHA-THROMBIN - EFFECT ON THE HYDROLYSIS OF ANILIDE TRIPEPTIDE SUBSTRATES

The interaction of heparin with human α-thrombin was investigated in the present report. Hydrolysis of synthetic tripeptide anilide substrates by thrombin was enhanced in the presence of heparin. With both N-α-benzoyl-l-phenylalanyl-l-valyl-l-arginine-p-nitroanilide (BzPheValArgNaN) and N-α-p-tosyl-l-glycyl-l-prolyl-l-arginine-p-nitroanilide (TosGlyProArgNaN), saturating concentrations of heparin enhanced the binding of substrate two-to threefold as determined by a decrease in the apparent Michaelis constant value, while having a marginal inhibitory effect on V. Substrate inhibition was observed with BzPheValArgNaN, which was enhanced in the presence of heparin. The enhancing effect of heparin on the binding of TosGlyProArgNaN was used to determine a dissociation constant value of 1.7 × 10-9 m for the heparin · thrombin complex. This value is nearly two orders of magnitude lower than the dissociation constant value determined for the heparin · antithrombin III complex (B. Nordenman and I. Bjork, 1978, Biochemistry 17, 3339-3344), suggesting strongly that heparin must bind to thrombin to account for the enhancing effect of heparin on the antithrombin III/thrombin reaction. Heparin also enhanced the rate of inactivation of thrombin by 1-chloro-3-tosylamido-7-amino-l-2-hepatonone, but had little effect on the inactivation rate with phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride. © 1979.