IS PROTHROMBIN A UNITARY PRINCIPLE OR A COMPLEX?

Abstract

No conclusion concerning prothrombin concs. may be drawn from work dealing with sp. heterogeneous mixtures of plasma, when the one stage method of analysis is employed. The reactivity of fibrinogen becomes altered in stored plasma. In work with homologous sp., there is no sound evidence for a 2d prothrombin component. Tin-evidence indicates that prothrombin is a unitary, stable compound in plasma. In work with homologous sp., as demonstrated in the human system by Lavergne and in the bovine system by the authors, the reactivity of fibrinogen plays an important role in the one-stage prothrombin detn.