Interaction of the fibrinogen‐binding tetrapeptide gly‐pro‐arg‐pro with fine clots and oligomers of α‐fibrin; comparison with αβ‐fibrin

Abstract The tetrapeptide Gly‐Pro‐Arg‐Pro(GPRP) was introduced by diffusion into fine unligated clots formed from human fibrinogen at pH 8.5 and ionic strength 0.45 by batroxobin (αβ‐fibrin) and by thrombin (α‐fibrin). The α‐fibrin clots were essentially liquefied at GPRP concentrations above 1 m M and αβ‐fibrin clots above 15 m M , and the degree of polymerization of the resulting oligomers decreased progressively with increasing GPRP concentration as shown by γ‐γ ligation with factor XIIIa and subsequent gel electrophoresis. Much smaller concentrations of GPRP, when introduced into unligated clots by diffusion, were sufficient to modify their mechanical properties profoundly. The shear modulus of elasticity G 25 measured 25 s after imposition of stress fell, for example, by a factor of 0.4 at 0.1 m M GPRP in α‐fibrin and at 1.1 m M in αβ‐fibrin. The rate of shear creep under constant stress and the proportion of irrecoverable deformation also increased enormously. This behavior, and the corresponding decrease in steady flow viscosity, may be interpreted in terms of competition of GPRP with A sites on the E domains of fibrin monomers for bidning to “a” sites on the D domains, resulting in a moderate increase with increasing GPRP concentration of the average proportion of severed network strands and an enormous increase in the rate at which all strands dissociate and reassociate. Reassociation of severed strands in new configurations is a necessary corollary since the differential modulus or compliance remains constant during creep and creep recovery. The greater susceptibility of α‐fibrin clots to interaction with GPRP is attributed to stabilization of contacts between monomer units by Bb associations in αβ‐fibrin. Ligated clots, with or without GPRP, exhibited essentially no time‐dependent creep and no irrecoverable deformation, corresponding to an absence of any severance of network strands.