title: Development of a chromogenic substrate assay for the determination of hirudin in plasma.
abstract: Hirudin is a potent and specific thrombin inhibitor. Since recombinant hirudin is being considered for anticoagulant and antithrombotic therapy we developed a fast and sensitive chromogenic substrate assay for its determination in plasma. The plasma samples (20 microliters) were incubated with 1 ml reagent mixture (0.2 M Tris buffer, 0.025 M NaCl, pH 8.1, containing 0.833 M urea, 0.7 trypsin inhibitor U/ml aprotinin, 100 ng/ml Polybrene and 0.31 NIH U/ml bovine thrombin) for 1 min. Thereafter 100 microliters Chromozym TH (Tos-Gly-Pro-Arg-pNA, 1.9 mM) was added. The change in absorbance/min (delta A/min) was recorded at 405 nm. delta A/min was linear for at least 3 min. The calibration curve was linear at least up to 800 ng hirudin/ml plasma. Intra-assay and inter-assay coefficients of variation were 2.8-3.1% and 5.3-5.8% respectively. The influence of progressive thrombin inhibitors can be neglected because of the short incubation time. Plasma samples can be assayed directly if aprotinin, polybrene and urea are added to the reagent mixture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spannagl
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bichler
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Birg
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lill
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schramm
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002863:Chromogenic Compounds; D003374:Coumarins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004211:Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation / Q000097:blood; D006493:Heparin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006583:Hexadimethrine Bromide / Q000494:pharmacology; D006629:Hirudins / Q000097:blood* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D009842:Oligopeptides; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology; D013917:Thrombin / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
chemical_list: D002863:Chromogenic Compounds; D003374:Coumarins; D006629:Hirudins; D009842:Oligopeptides; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D006583:Hexadimethrine Bromide; C014413:chromozym TH; D006493:Heparin; C030123:coumarin; D013917:Thrombin