The effects of bovine prothrombin fragment 1 and fragment 1.2 on prothrombin activation

In this paper we describe the effects of the activation peptides prothrombin fragment 1 and fragment 1.2 on factor Xa-catalyzed prothrombin activation. Prothrombin activation in free solution by either factor Xa or factor Xa together with factor Va is unaffected by the activation fragments. When negatively charged phospholipids are present we observed considerable inhibition of prothrombin activation by both fragment 1 and fragment 1.2. For the activation of 0.25 microM prothrombin by factor Xa in the presence of 50 microM phospholipid (phosphatidylserine/phosphatidylcholine, 25/75; mol/mol) and 5 mM CaCl2 50% inhibition was obtained at 0.28 microM fragment 1 or fragment 1.2. Much higher fragment concentrations were required for 50% inhibition of a prothrombinase complex consisting of factor Xa, factor Va, Ca2+ and phospholipid. This shows that factor Va protects prothrombin activation against inhibition by its own activation peptides. Less inhibition by activation fragments was also observed at higher phospholipid and prothrombin concentrations or when the mole fraction phosphatidylserine in the phospholipid vesicles was decreased. The effects of fragment 1 and fragment 1.2 on prothrombin activation were identical throughout all experiments, indicating that the inhibition is due to the gamma-carboxyglutamic acid containing region of the activation peptides. Our observations suggest that the activation fragments inhibit prothrombin activation by competing with prothrombin and factor Xa for binding sites at the phospholipid surface. In such a model factor Va will protect against the inhibition since it is known to promote the assembly of the prothrombinase complex through interactions with factor Xa and prothrombin that are independent of the gla-residues. The kinetic properties of fragment inhibition also suggest that in vivo prothrombin activation will not be affected by the generation of activation peptides.