Comparison of the spectrophotometric determination and the two-stage coagulation assay of tissue factor activity

The tissue factor activity of human brain thromboplastin and 6 commercial thromboplastins was determined by a spectrophotometric method and a two-stage coagulation assay. The thromboplastins were incubated with an excess of Factor VII and Factor X, and the activation of Factor X was estimated from the rate of hydrolysis of the chromogenic substrate S-2222 and from the coagulation time of plasma enriched in phospholipids. The results obtained by the two methods were related linearly and showed a correlation coefficient of 0.89. The coefficient of variation was 11% in the spectrophotometric method and 25% in the two-stage coagulation assay.