Competitions between fibrinogen with its degradation products for interactions with the platelet-fibrinogen receptor

Direct binding of 125-I-labelled plasmic and CNBr-derived fibrin (ogen) fragments (pre-X, X, Y, D, Degta, Efg, E1, N-DSK, N-dsk) to gel-filtered platelets was compared to their ability to support or inhibit ADP-induced aggregation, and to compete with fibrinogen for binding to ADP-stimulated platelets. Pre-X was the only fragment that supported aggregation. All fragments tested except for E derived from fibrinogen (Efg) and Degta bound specifically to the platelets and inhibited ADP-induced aggregation in the presence of fibrinogen. Competitive binding studies with fibrinogen and fragments labelled with different isotopes of iodine, or inhibition of binding of labelled fibrinogen with unlabelled fragments showed that all of the fragments except Efg and Degta were able to compete with fibrinogen for binding. When simultaneous binding of N-dsk and fibrinogen was studied, an increased binding of both ligands was observed probably due to complex formation. The results fully agree with previous findings of binding to immunoprecipitated glycoprotein IIb-IIIa after crossed immunoelectrophoresis. We conclude that the fibrinogen molecule contains at least six sequences responsible for platelet interaction, two in the E domain and two in each of the C-terminal parts of the fibrinogen molecule.