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Thrombin-induced platelet secretion. Further evidence for a specific pathway.

We have studied the interaction between thrombin and washed, human platelets using prostacyclin, a reversible inhibitor of platelet secretion. The effect of thrombin is limited to those reactions that are not inhibited by an increased concentration of platelet cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate, because prostacyclin is a potent inducer of the latter. Prostacyclin-treated platelets were briefly (15-30 s) exposed to low concentrations of human thrombin (0.01-0.2 U/ml). After removal of the prostacyclin and thrombin, the platelets were incubated with fresh thrombin. Although they had not undergone the release reaction after the first thrombin incubation, these platelets had a diminished capacity to secrete [(3)H]serotonin when exposed to thrombin the second time. Refractoriness was concentration dependent: the higher the initial thrombin concentration, the greater the degree of inhibition of serotonin secretion on subsequent thrombin exposure. Inhibition was closely related to the ability of thrombin to induce platelet secretion and not to its esterase or fibrinogen clotting activity. Diisopropyl fluorophosphate-inactive thrombin did not induce refractoriness. Refractoriness to thrombin did not increase when the time of the initial incubation with thrombin was lengthened, nor was it reversible.INHIBITION WAS THROMBIN SPECIFIC: serotonin secretion induced by collagen, wheat germ agglutinin, and the ionophore A23187 was minimally affected. For an equivalent amount of thrombin bound, a decrease was observed in serotonin secretion by thrombin-pretreated platelets compared to control platelets. Thus, there is at least one step in the secretory pathway between thrombin binding and regulation of adenylate cyclase. This step appears to transmit the signal that leads to extrusion of intracellular granular contents.

Blood Platelets

The action of immobilized thrombin on factor VIII, fibrinogen and a synthetic tripeptide.

Bovine thrombin was insolubilized by attachment to cyanogen bromide-activated Sepharose (Sepharose-thrombin) or to activated (Affi-Gel 10) agarose containing a 10 A long arm (Affi-Gel-thrombin). Coupling in both instances approximated 7,000 units of thrombin per ml packed gel as determined by 125I-thrombin incorporation. The thrombin beads hydrolyzed the synthetic tripeptide Bz-Phe-Val-Arg-pNA (S-2160) at different rates, with the Sepharose-thrombin more active (220 esterase units per ml) than Affi-Gel thrombin (20.4 units per ml). The Km was significantly higher for the insolubilized thrombins (2 X 10(-3) M) than uncoupled thrombin (Km = 8 X 10(-5) M). The Sepharose-thrombin activated factor VIII significantly more rapidly than Affi-Gel-thrombin. Neither matrix-bound thrombin clotted a fibrinogen solution or liberated significant amounts of fibrinopeptides over 48 hr. This data indicates that a proteolysis of factor VIII, rather than a complex with thrombin, is the method of activation of factor VIII and that factor VIII is more accessible to the action of immobilized thrombin than is fibrinogen.

Animals

A catalytic role for heparin. Evidence for a ternary complex of heparin cofactor thrombin and heparin.

The interaction of heparin with chemically modified thrombin and heparin cofactor is studied. Amidinated heparin cofactor does not bind to heparin-agarose and the reaction rate of the amidinated inhibitor with unmodified thrombin is not affected by heparin. Likewise, thrombin modified with 1,2--cyclohexanedione does not bind to heparin agarose and the reaction rate of the modified enzyme with unmodified inhibitor is not affected by heparin. In the absence of heparin, the modified and unmodified proteins react at the same rate in all possible combinations. Affinity chromatography of diisopropylphosphoryl thrombin on heparin cofactor coupled to Sephadex G--50 is used to study the binding of heparin cofactor and thrombin to heparin. The thrombin for all experiments is tritium-labeled and then inactivated with diispropylfluorophosphate. Thrombin is not bound to heparin cofactor-Sephadex columns. However, after treatment of the columns with a heparin solution, thrombin binds tightly, and is eluted at high ionic strength. Bound thrombin can also be eluted with either excess non-radioactive thrombin or excess free heparin. Heparin-dependent binding of thrombin does not occur if the heparin cofactor-Sephadex is heat-denatured. The ability of heparin to couple solution-phase thrombin to solid-phase heparin cofactor indicates that a ternary complex is formed. Analysis of the binding of the proteins to heparin by a dye displacement method suggests that at least one site on heparin binds to thrombin but not to heparin cofactor. Further support for a catalytic role for heparin derives from the ability of catalytic concentrations of heparin to enhance the rate of hydrolysis of prothrombin by thrombin, another protein pair which bind mutually to heparin.

Alpha-Globulins

In vitro and in vivo functions of thrombin-treated platelets.

Thrombin-induced platelet aggregation has been generally believed to be irreversible. However, thrombin-induced aggregation of washed platelets is reversible if fibrin formation is prevented or the fibrin which binds the platelets together is removed from the platelet aggregates. After treatment with high concentrations of thrombin (0.5 units/ml) single platelets can be recovered that have lost practically all of their releasable serotonin and adenine nucleotides. These platelets are able to aggregate upon addition of low concentrations of ADP in the presence of fibrinogen. They aggregate in response to the ionophore A23, 187 in the absence of added fibrinogen, whereas sodium arachidonate-induced aggregation requires added fibrinogen. Thrombin-treated platelets change their shape in response to collagen in the absence of fibrinogen, and will aggregate upon the addition of collagen providing fibrinogen is present. This response to collagen can be blocked with aspirin but not with a mixture of creatine phosphate/creatine phosphokinase. Upon a second exposure to thrombin, thrombin-pretreated platelets do not change their shape and do not undergo aggregation. Thrombin-pretreated platelets will not retract a thrombin-induced fibrin clot unless ADP, sodium arachidonate, the ionophore A23, 187 or collagen are added together with thrombin. The ability of thrombin-treated platelets to adhere to the exposed subendothelial surface of the rabbit aorta is reduced, compared with untreated control platelets. The thrombin-treated platelets shorten the bleeding time of thrombocytopenic rabbits. However, the are not as effective in shortening the bleeding time as normal control platelets. When injected into rabbits with a normal platelet count, the thrombin-treated platelets that circulate after infusion survive for the same length of time as untreated control platelets. These findings indicate that thrombin-induced platelet aggregation with extensive release of granule constituents is not irreversible and that thrombin treatment does not cause irreversible damage of all platelets that would lead to their immediate elimination from the circulation. Furthermore, these platelets can still be haemostatically effective. It is conceivable that platelets that have lost their amine storage granule contents during a release reaction in vivo, such as may occur in certain cases of intravascular coagulation and repeated episodes of thrombosis, may be found in the circulation of man.

Adenosine Diphosphate

Properdin factor D: effects on thrombin-induced platelet aggregation.

Factor D, when preincubated with platelet suspensions, at concentrations as low as 1.2 micrograms/ml, inhibited thrombin-induced platelet aggregation. No inhibition of collagen or arachidonic acid-induced platelet aggregation was found. Inhibition occurred, but to a lesser extent, when thrombin and factor D were added to platelets at the same time. No inhibition occurred when factor D was added after thrombin. Thrombin was able to overcome inhibition by factor D by increasing its concentration. Diisopropyl-phosphorofluoridate-inactivated factor D also inhibited thrombin-induced platelet aggregation so that enzymatic activity of factor D was not required for inhibition. Factor D absorbed with hirudin coupled to Sepharose 6B showed no decrease in inhibitory capacity. 125I-Factor D bound to platelets in a manner suggesting an equilibrium reaction similar to thrombin. At low factor D input, binding was linear, whereas at higher input, binding began to approach saturation. Binding of 125I-labeled thrombin to platelets was inhibited by factor D. Analysis of these data show that factor D does not alter the total number of thrombin molecules which bind to the platelet surface at saturation. However, the dissociation constant for thrombin is altered from 2.78 to 6.90 nM in the presence of factor D (20 micrograms/ml). Factor D is thus a competitive inhibitor of thrombin binding, although the affinity of factor D for the platelet thrombin receptor is much less than that of thrombin. These phenomena occur at physiologic concentrations of factor D. Therefore, factor D may function in vivo as an inhibitor of platelet aggregation.

Binding, Competitive

Correlation of in vivo and in vitro inhibition of thrombin by plasma inhibitors.

Rabbit antithrombin III and thrombin were purified to homogeneity to determine the in vivo relationship of these proteins in an autologous system. These proteins, radiolabeled with Na[125I], were injected into rabbits to determine the circulatory half-life. The mean half-life values were 125I-antithrombin III, 54.75 +/- 3.10 hr; 125I-thrombin, 7.25 +/- 1.49 hr; 125I-thrombin-antithrombin III, 7.25 +/- 1.09 hr; 125I[thrombin-antithrombin III], 11.13 +/- 0.88 hr; and Tos-Lys-CH2Cl-125I-thrombin, 27.75 +/- 3.18 hr. All the mean half-life values were statistically different from that of thrombin alone except for the two forms of thrombin-antithrombin III complex. Following injection of the radiolabeled proteins, plasma samples were obtained and gel-filtered to analyze the molecular weight distribution of the radiolabel. An identical elution position on gel filtration of 125I-antithrombin III with native antithrombin III was observed. The 125I-thrombin distributed into two peaks of radioactivity, with a molecular weight of 100,000 (79%) and a molecular weight greater than 200,000 (21%). The 100,000 dalton peak is consistent with a thrombin--antithrombin III complex, and the greater than 200,000 dalton peak is consistent with a thrombin-alpha 2-macroglobulin complex as confirmed by in vitro immunochemical studies. Thrombin inactivated with Tos-Lys-CH2Cl also showed two peaks of radioactivity on gel filtration, one peak which was excluded from the column and the other peak with an elution volume that was consistent with the position of native thrombin.

Antithrombin III

[Comparison of the catalytic properties of alpha- and beta-forms of thrombin].

18-25-fold purified alpha-thrombin, having high esterase activity and coagulating ability of 2500 NIH u per 1 mg of protein, was isolated using chromatography of commercial thrombin through SP-Sephadex C-50. Limited proteolysis of alpha-thrombin on the column with immobilized trypsin resulted in the appearance of beta-thrombin with alpha-thrombin-like esterase activity and tracing coagulating activity (2-5 NIH u per 1 mg of protein). Molecular weight analysis of alpha- and beta-thrombin forms suggests that a peptide (or peptides) with Mr of 1100 is splitted off under proteolysis. Some similarity is revealed in kinetic parameters (Km(app) and kkat) of TAME and BAME hydrolysis by alpha- and beta-thrombin, although Km(app) is somewhat low (approximately 2-fold) for alpha-thrombin. Investigation of TAME hydrolysis kinetics by both thrombin forms at a wide range of substrate concentrations has revealed the effect of substrate activation. Kinetic constants Ks and beta for high substrate concentrations are calculated. It is suggested that the similarity of alpha- and beta-thrombin action on arginine esters and sharp differences in their effect on fibrinogen may be a result of a disturbance of substrate-binding region of beta-thrombin active site.

Arginine

[Participation of the hypophyseal-adrenal cortex system in thrombin clearance during immobilization stress].

The examination carried out with thrombin marked by 131J resulted in a considerable increase of the thrombin clearance rate in healty male rats during the stress (caused by an immobilization lasting 30 minutes) and in an increase of thrombin deposits in the liver. A further increase of thrombin clearance occurred by the combination of immobilization and administration of ACTH. Contrary to ACTH the thrombin clearance is not stimulated in healthy animals by hydrocortisone. Thrombin clearance and thrombin deposits in the liver are lowered in adrenalectomized rats. In these animals the administration of ACTH does not result in an increase of thrombin clearance. The rate of thrombin clearance is normalized in adrenalectomized animals after administering hydrocortisone without as well as under conditions of stress. In adrenalectomized animals having received hydrocortisone as well as in healthy animals the administration of ACTH will results in an increase of thrombin clearance. From these experiments the conclusion can be drawn that ACTH will increase the intensity of thrombin clearance in stress and that hydrocortisone plays a transmitting part here.

Adrenal Cortex

Control of proliferation of human vascular endothelial cells. Characterization of the response of human umbilical vein endothelial cells to fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor, and thrombin.

Because the response of human endothelial cells to growth factors and conditioning agents has broad implications for our understanding of wound healing angiogenesis, and human atherogenesis, we have investigated the responses of these cells to the fibroblast (FGF) and epidermal growth factors (EGF), as well as to the protease thrombin, which has been previously shown to potentiate the growth response of other cell types of FGF and EGF. Because the vascular endothelial cells that form the inner lining of blood vessels may be expected to be exposed to high thrombin concentrations after trauma or in pathological states associated with thrombosis, they are of particular interest with respect to the physiological role of this protease in potentiating cell proliferation. Our results indicate that human vascular endothelial cells respond poorly to either FGF or thrombin alone. In contrast, when cells are maintained in the presence of thrombin, their proliferative response to FGF is greatly increased even in cultures seeded at a density as low as 3 cells/mm2. Human vascular endothelial cells also respond to EGF and thrombin, although their rate of proliferation is much slower than when maintained with FGF and thrombin. In contrast, bovine vascular endothelial cells derived from vascular territories as diverse as the bovine heart, aortic arch, and umbilical vein respond maximally to FGF alone and neither respond to nor bind EGF. Furthermore, the response of bovine vascular endothelial cells to FGF was not potentiated by thrombin, indicating that the set of factors controlling the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells could be species-dependent. The requirement of cultured human vascular endothelial cells for thrombin could explain why the human cells, in contrast to bovine endothelial cells, are so difficult to maintain in tissue culture. Our results demonstrate that by using FGF and thrombin one can develop cultures of human vascular endothelial cells capable of being passage repeatedly while maintaining a high mitotic index. The stock cultures used for these studies have been passed weekly with a split ratio of 1 to 10 and are currently in their 30th passage. These cultures are indistinguishable from earlier passages when examined for the presence of Weibel-Palade bodies or Factor VIII antigen. We conclude that the use of FGF and thrombin can prevent the precocious senescence observed in most human endothelial cells cultures previously described.

Animals

Thrombin concentration shapes endothelial extracellular vesicle profiles with divergent inflammatory functions.

Thrombin, a central enzyme in the coagulation cascade, also regulates diverse cellular processes, including inflammation and vascular barrier function, primarily by activating protease-activated receptor 1. Previous studies demonstrated that thrombin elicits concentration-dependent, opposing effects; low concentrations confer anti-inflammatory and barrier-protective responses, whereas high concentrations promote inflammation and barrier disruption. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain incompletely understood. Here, we showed that thrombin stimulates extracellular vesicle (EV) release from endothelial cells across a broad concentration range and that EVs generated at low vs high thrombin concentrations carry distinct microRNA (miR) cargo. Low-thrombin EVs mediate cytoprotective responses via the transfer of miR-409-5p, which targets ubiquitin-specific protease 7 that promotes inflammation via the NF-kB signaling pathway in recipient cells, whereas high-thrombin EVs disrupt barrier integrity and promote inflammation through delivery of miR-155-5p, a regulator of suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 that acts as a crucial negative regulator of the cytokine signaling pathway. Functional manipulation of these EVs confirmed the causal roles. Incorporation of anti-miR-409-5p abrogated the protective effects of low-thrombin EVs, whereas anti-miR-155-5p suppressed the cytopathic effects of high-thrombin EVs. Moreover, control EVs engineered to carry a miR-409-5p mimic reproduced the anti-inflammatory and barrier-protective phenotype of low-thrombin EVs. Collectively, these findings identified EV-associated miRs as key mediators of the concentration-dependent dual actions of thrombin, which may open the therapeutic potential of EVs engineered to deliver selective miRs or anti-miRs for the treatment of inflammatory vascular diseases.

Thrombin

[Activation of the anticoagulation system following intravenous administration of beta-thrombin].

Beta-thrombin possessing high esterase activity and tracing coagulating ability, being product of limited proteolysis of alpha-thrombin in vitro, accelerates recalcification time and thrombin generation in plasma, but not the conversion of prothrombin to enzyme. Thus, beta-thrombin is the activator of early stages of blood coagulation, does not possess fibrinolytic activity and does not activate plasminogen. The i. v. administration of beta-thrombin to rats induces changes in blood coagulability which are accompanied by an increase in plasma recalcification time, total fibrinolytic activity and non-enzymatic fibrinolysis. Nothing of the kind occurs after administration alpha-thrombin, having tracing clotting activity similar to R-thrombin activity. The data obtained suggest the possibility of reflex activation of the anticoagulating system by beta-thrombin or undirectly by alpha-thrombin generated by beta-thrombin activation at early stages of blood coagulation.

Animals

Antithrombin III and heparin inactivation in thrombin involving reactions.

The inhibitory capacity of antithrombin III (AT III) was measured by a quantitative method independent of the velocity of inhibition. When AT III was in excess of thrombin in plasma or in purified system the capacity of inhibitor decreased quantitatively in proportion to the amount of thrombin neutralized. Heparin present in reaction together with thrombin invariably induced a more extensive utilization of inhibitor than thrombin alone. The extent of this additional loss of inhibitory capacity was to a limited degree related to the concentration of heparin. Heparin itself was neutralized in thrombin-AT III reaction losing its anticoagulant property in proportion to the amount of thrombin bound by inhibitor. This quantitative neutralization of heparin occurred not only when the anticoagulant participated in thrombin-AT III binding but also when heparin was added to a medium containing a preformed thrombin-AT III complex. These results suggest that acceleration of binding and increased utilization of binding capacity are the two regular effects of heparin on thrombin-involving reactions of AT III. Both of these effects may be abolished by quantitative binding of heparin to thrombin-AT III complex.

Antithrombins

Inactivation of alpha- and beta- thrombin by antithrombin-III and heparin.

Inactivation of alpha- and beta-thrombin by antithrombin-III and heparin was studied, since it had been suggested that two forms of thrombin exist with respect to heparin sensitivity (Machovich 1975b). It was found that the inactivation rates of alpha- and beta-thrombin by antithrombin were different, namely alpha-thrombin was more sensitive to antithrombin than beta-thrombin. Heparin facilitated the complex formation between alpha-thrombin and antithrombin-III, whereas beta-thrombin inactivation was only slightly affected. Furthermore, heparin protected alpha-thrombin against the inactivating effect of heat, while beta-thrombin lost its activity during the heat treatment. These findings suggest that the formation of beta-thrombin in blood circulation may have an important role in thrombosis predisposition.

Alpha-Globulins

Binding and internalization of 125I thrombin in chick embryo fibroblasts: possible role in mitogenesis.

Human alpha thrombin acts as a mitogen for cultures of resting chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF) in serum free medium. The use of 125I-labeled thrombin shows that thrombin specifically binds to CEF and that after a lag of approximately 30 to 60 minutes it can not be removed by subsequent exposure to trypsin. The entry of 125I thrombin into the trypsin-insensitive domain is not inhibited to any great extent by excess unlabelled thrombin. The cell-associated thrombin retains its native molecular weight and its catalytic activity toward synthetic amide substrates. It appears to be located in the crude nuclear fraction of homogenized CEF cells. The association of thrombin with CEF is specific, since the non-mitogenic serine protease chymotrypsin is internalized to a much lesser extent than thrombin. The data are discussed in terms of a possible intracellular site for thrombin's mitogenic action.

Cell Nucleus

Inactivation of alpha- and beta-thrombin by antithrombin-III, alpha 2-macroglobulin and alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor.

Inactivation of alpha- and beta-thrombin by alpha 2-macroglobulin, by alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor and by antithrombin-III and heparin was studied. The amount of alpha- and beta-thrombin inactivated by antithrombin-III was proportional to the concentration of the inhibitor, but the inactivation rates of the two forms of thrombin were different. Heparin facilitated complex-formation between alpha-thrombin and antithrombin-III, whereas inactivation of beta-thrombin by antithrombin was only slightly influenced, even at a heparin concentration two orders of magnitude higher. alpha 2-Macroglobulin inhibited both alpha- and beta-thrombin activity similarly, i.e. the amount of alpha- and beta-thrombin inactivated as well as the rates of their inhibition were the same. alpha 1-Proteinase inhibitor also formed a complex with alpha- and beta-thrombin, similarly to antithrombin-III, although the inactivation of the enzyme needed high inhibitor concentration and long incubation time. These results suggest that the inactivation of beta-thrombin, if it occurs in the plasma, is also controlled by plasma inhibitors.

Antithrombins

Thrombin: structural features related to specificity.

A comparison of the primary structure of human thrombin with the structures of chymotrypsin, trypsin, elastase and factor Xabeta reveals several structural features which may be involved in the specificity of thrombin toward macromolecular substrates. Among the major structural differences noted in such a comparison are the insertions of five extended peptide regions in the primary structure of alpha-thrombin when compared to chymotrypsin. These insertions, which we refer to as "loops", have been designated A, B, C, D, and E. The A, B and C "loops" in human thrombin appear to be large enough to interact at or near the active active site if an alpha-thrombin-chymotrypsin three-dimensional structural homology is assumed. In beta-thrombin, the configuration of the A and B "loops" may be perturbed by proteolysis, and the ability of beta-thrombin to clot fibrinogen is thus reduced. Perturbation of the configuration of the C "loops" by proteolysis in the formation of gamma-thrombin may further reduce the ability of thrombin to bind fibrinogen.

Amino Acid Sequence

Reduced thrombin binding and aggregation in Bernard-Soulier platelets.

Platelets from two patients with Bernard-Soulier disease showed a reduction in their ability to bind human thrombin. Thrombin binding studies in the high affinity range showed 1,500 sites for the Bernard-Soulier platelets as against 4,000 for normal controls. However, the dissociation constant was the same for both normals and patients (4.4 nM) indicating identical affinity for thrombin at the available sites. In the low affinity range, the Bernard-Soulier platelets showed 8,800 thrombin binding sites as against 24,000 for the controls, but again with identical values of Kd (37 nM). In addition, platelets from these Bernard-Soulier patients showed a decreased rate of aggregation with thrombin at both optimal (300 mU/ml) and suboptimal (60 and 120 mU/ml) thrombin concentrations. The decreased amount of thrombin which can bind to Bernard-Soulier platelets and the decrease in thrombin-induced aggregation may partly explain the hemostatic defect in these patients. In addition, the identical ratios of high affinity and low affinity binding sites in normals and in patients (0.37 and 0.36, and 0.36, respectively) supports the idea of a single class of binding sites for thrombin on the platelet surface.

Adolescent

Plasmin inhibition of thrombin-induced platelet aggregation.

The effects of plasmin treatment upon washed human platelets were studied in an attempt to elucidate the mechanisms underlying thrombin-induced platelet aggregation. At calcium concentrations of 10-20 muM, PLASMIN (0.2 CTA U/ml) inhibited thrombin-induced aggregation almost completely, but did not diminish the thrombin-induced release of adenine nucleotides, 5-hydroxytryptamine, or calcium. Increasing the calcium concentration partially antagonized plasmin's inhibition of aggregation. Studies utilizing calcium chelators and the Kunitz soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBTI) as a plasmin inhibitor indicated that in order to achieve maximal block of aggregation, plasmin must act upon a substrate made fully available only after an initial thrombin-platelet interaction has taken place. Moreover, the time course of this inhibition parallels the time course of the thrombin-induced release reaction. Plasmin inhibition of aggregation could not be mimicked by exposing the platelets to proteolytic digests of fibrinogen at concentrations as high as 17% total platelet protein. Nor could inhibitory activity be recovered from supernatants of plasmin-treated platelets, upon centrifugation and treatment with SBTI. With the use of a "cold initiation" technique, the release by thrombin of 46.7 plus or minus 6.7 (mean plus or minus SEM) mu-g of fibrinogen immunological equivalents per mg platelet protein could be demonstrated. Platelets in which thrombin-induced aggregation was abolished by plasmin treatment (and the plasmin subsequently inactivated by STBI) aggregated normally upon addition of as little as 10 mu-g human plasma fibrinogen per mg platelet protein. It is concluded that plasmin inhibition of aggregation most likely results from its attack upon a protein that is released or becomes fully available subsequent to interaction of thrombin with a platelet receptor mediating release. The results of this study are consistent with a cofactor role for fibrinogen in the aggregation of human platelets by thrombin.

Adenine Nucleotides