Anticoagulant function of a 24-Kd fragment isolated from human fibrinogen A alpha chains

A fibrinogen fragment obtained by limited-plasmin proteolysis has been isolated and purified to apparent homogeneity by gel filtrations. This fragment, denoted as 24-Kd fragment, has an apparent M(r) approximately 24,000 and contains an N-terminal sequence of met-glu-leu-glu-arg-pro-gly-gly-asn-glu-ile. The fragment contains a large number of acidic amino acid residues, and its amino acid composition is similar to several fibrinogen A alpha chains degradation fragments isolated previously. It corresponds to a peptide of the fibrinogen A alpha chains, the N-terminal of which starts at alpha Met-240. This peptide delays thrombin plasma clotting time. It does not bind calcium ions and does not inhibit thrombin's amidolytic activity. It binds to immobilized fibrin but not fibrinogen. It also inhibits the polymerization of desAA and desAABB fibrin monomers by simultaneously decreasing the maximum rate and the maximum level of the polymerization reaction. However, the initial lag period of this reaction is not affected by the fragment.