Use of Purified Prothrombin in the Study of Hemophilia and Plasma Thromboplastin Component (PTC) Deficiency

Abstract

An assay procedure was devised for studying the activity of materials of plasma and serum which function together with platelet-AcG and Ca in the activation of prothrombin. With the new method purified prothrombin, Ca, and a platelet-AcG prepn. are mixed. The unknown sample is added to this mixture and the thrombin concn. is measured quantitatively as prothrombin activation proceeds. When antithrombin is associated with unknown samples it is first destroyed to prevent inactivation of thrombin. With this assay technique, serum shows less activity than plasma. This differential is referred to as the plasma-serum difference or P-S difference. The hemophiliac does not show this difference, whereas plasma thromboplastin component (PTC) deficiency does. The activity of hemophilic serum and plasma is equivalent to normal serum and thus less than for normal plasma. In refractory hemophilia the activity is equivalent to classical hemophilia but more normal plasma is required to restore its activity to normal than with classical hemophilia. Ether extraction of refractory hemophilic plasma and serum, hemophilic plasma, hemophilic serum, PTC plasma, and PTC serum makes them equivalent in activator capacity to normal plasma in the assay procedure descr. It is believed that ether removes an inhibitor and thus enables the activities which function in conjunction with platelet-AcG to be restored to its full potential.