Histidine-rich glycoprotein inhibits contact activation of blood coagulation

Abstract Histidine-rich glycoprotein has been purified from bovine plasma employing two different purification procedures. The first procedure was one-step ion-exchange chromatography using phosphocellulose, while the second procedure involved fractionation using polyethyleneglycol 6000 followed by column chromatography employing CM-Sepharose and heparin-Sepharose. The effect of purified bovine histidine-rich glycoprotein on the contact activation of blood coagulation was studied in human plasma by using as activating surface either an ellagic acid-phospholipid suspension (Cephotest) or sulfatide. Contact activation was monitored by the generation of amidolytic activity towards a synthetic chromogenic substrate (S-2302) for factor XII a and plasma kallikrein. Bovine histidine-rich glycoprotein inhibits the contact activation induced by both of these activating surfaces.