L. Houbouyan et al., INHIBITION OF THROMBIN GENERATION BY HEPARIN AND LMW HEPARINS - A COMPARISON OF CHROMOGENIC AND CLOTTING METHODS, Blood coagulation & fibrinolysis, 7(1), 1996, pp. 24-30
Inhibition of thrombin generation by heparin and low-molecular-weight
(LMW) heparins is an important parameter which relates to their antico
agulant actions in vivo. Previous studies in our laboratory used a clo
tting assay for assessment of thrombin generation but other published
studies hale used a chromogenic method. We have therefore measured the
inhibition of thrombin generation by unfractionated heparin (UFH) and
LMW heparins by a modified chromogenic method using microtitre plates
and compared the results with the clotting method. The degree of inhi
bition of thrombin generation when calculated from both peak thrombin
concentrations and areas under the curve in the chromogenic assay was
the same. When the activities of each heparin were expressed as EC(80)
, i.e. concentrations required for 80% inhibition of thrombin generati
on, the EC(80) were higher in the chromogenic assay than in the clotti
ng system. However when the potencies of the LMW heparins were express
ed as percentages of that of the UFH standard by parallel line analysi
s, the differences between dotting and chromogenic assay results were
small and not statistically significant (P>0.05). This study demonstra
tes the feasibility of measuring inhibition of thrombin generation by
a modified chromogenic method using microtitre plates, and shows that
the results with this method are similar to those obtained with the cl
otting method.