Action of heparin on thrombin-antithrombin reaction

Thrombin partially purified from bovine plasma can be inactivated at 60 degress C. In the presence of 10 units of heparin the extent of inactivation decreases. When thrombin and heparin are mixed and incubated for 5 min at 0 degrees C before gel filtration on Sephadex G-200, thrombin with heparin is eluted prior to either thrombin or heparin laone. These data suggest a complex formation between thrombin and heparin. Immobilized heparin binds thrombin. The enzyme can be eluted with 0.05 M Tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.3, containing an ion mixture of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ at 73, 3 and 11 mM, respectively, at 0 degrees C and with 0.05 M Tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.3, containing 0.5 M NaCl at 20 degrees C. During the same chromatographic procedure, antithrombin-III (heparin cofactor) partially purified from human plasma is eluted with 0.05 M Tris-HCl buffer, pH 7.3, at 0 degrees C as well as 20 degrees C. Although, as described in the literature, heparin binds to antithrombin, our findings suggest another possibility, i.e. that the binding of heparin to thrombin induces a conformational change in the enzyme facilitating a complex formation between thrombin and antithrombin-III.