Summary
In a thrombin generation test with continuous registration of thrombin activity in
plasma we studied the ability of a variety of thrombin inhibitors of different type
and mechanism of action to influence the activity of thrombin after activation of
the coagulation system. Depending on the inhibitor, the peak of thrombin activity
is delayed and/or reduced.
By blocking the active site of generated thrombin inhibitors cause a concentration
dependent reduction of the thrombin peak and inhibit feed-back reactions of thrombin
resulting in a delay of thrombin generation. Highly potent synthetic active-site directed
inhibitors (Ki ≤ 20 nM) reduce the thrombin activity formed in plasma after extrinsic or intrinsic
activation with the same efficiency (IC50 0.1 - 0.6 μM) as hirudin. The delay and reduction of thrombin generation by inhibitors of the anion-binding
exosite 1 of thrombin is only attributed to an inhibition of feed-back reactions of
thrombin. For a 50% reduction of thrombin activity in plasma by this type of inhibitors
relatively high concentrations were determined.