General description

Thrombin enzyme (Factor IIa) is an important clotting factor that controls the transformation of soluble fibrinogen to insoluble active fibrin strands. Thrombin is a serine protease (EC 3.4.21.5) that catalyzes many coagulation-related reactions. Thrombin inhibitors are used as anticoagulants to prevent arterial and venous thrombosis. Some of these inhibitors are currently in clinical use while others are in clinical development.

Principle

This Thrombin Inhibitor Screening Kit utilizes the ability of thrombin to cleave a synthetic AMC-based peptide substrate to release AMC, which can be detected by measuring its fluorescence (λ_ex = 350 nm/λ_em = 450 nm). In the presence of thrombin specific inhibitors, the cleavage reaction is reduced or completely abolished. The loss in the fluorescence intensity can be correlated to the amount of inhibitor present in the assay solution. The kit provides a simple and rapid method to screen potential inhibitors of thrombin.

Suitability

Suitable for screening potential inhibitors of thrombin and characterizing/studying thrombin inhibitors in plasma samples.