Polyethylene glycol can be validly omitted from chromogenic peptide substrate assay for antithrombin III

To investigate whether the characteristics of a commercial test kit for antithrombin III (Berichrom Antithrombin III) could be influenced by surfactants such as Tween-80 or polyethylene glycol (PEG), we performed some experiments with the original kit reagents and with the reagents dissolved in surfactants. Neither the reliability of the calibration curve nor the data for precision and assay kinetics were amended by the addition of either PEG to the (human) thrombin reagent or Tween-80 to the chromogenic substrate. In the same test system, assays with some other chromogenic substrates and with bovine thrombin showed comparable behavior. Evidently, if one follows the working scheme proposed for this kit, the use of surfactants is not warranted.