[Fibrinogen and fibrin monomer conformation changes dependent of pH magnitude]

Conformational states of fibrinogen and fibrin monomer were studied by methods of differential and solvent-perturbation spectrophotometry and ultraviolet fluorescence at about neutral pH (6.5) and in the region of lower pH, 3.2 to 4.0. To prevent repolymerization of fibrin monomer at pH 6.5, urea was added in a non-denaturing concentration of 1.7 M. In the acid region specified, the immediate environment of tyrosine and tryptophan residues was found to be more polar and the accessibility to perturbants higher than at pH 6.5. Much more drastic changes of the same type occurred at pH less than 3 when denaturation of the protein takes place. The conformation of fibrinogen altered progressively upon lowering pH from 4.0 to 3.2. This acidity increase, practically, did not influence the conformation of fibrin monomer. Thus the tolerance of the latter to the appearance of the new positively changed groups seems to be comparably high. The bulk of the conformational changes subsequent upon neutralization of an acid fibrin monomer solution proceeds at a higher rate than the activation transition, i.e. the acquirement of a state of polymerization readiness by fibrin monomer molecules.