Interaction between plasma factor XIII and collagen

Purified plasma Factor XIII efficiently bound to the immobilized collagen affinity column. In contrast, when plasma was applied to the column, as much as 80% of Factor XIII was not trapped. It was shown that the difficulty of binding of Factor XIII in plasma to collagen is not due to the covering of collagen with some plasma proteins. We then assumed that Factor XIII formed a complex in plasma with a certain protein(s), which would prevent Factor XIII from binding to collagen. Using an immobilized Factor XIII affinity column, we have indeed obtained one protein from plasma with apparent Mr of 260,000.