Abstract
Anticoagulation of blood by the leech Hirudo medicinalis is accomplished by hirudin, a potent inhibitor of thrombin. The giant South American leech Haementeria ghilianii also renders blood incoagulable in order to feed and digest the meal. However, the mechanism of blood anticoagulation by the latter leech is different from the former. The anticoagulant, called hementin, is present in both the anterior and posterior salivary glands. It is a metalloproteinase that specifically cleaves fibrinogen rendering it incoagulable by thrombin. The mechanism of degradation by this enzyme involves preferential hydrolysis of three peptide bonds in the coiledcoil connector, resulting in destruction of bivalent function of the fibrinogen molecule. Since the other coagulation factors in human blood are unaffected by hementin, the mechanism of action of this anticoagulant is selectively focused on fibrinogen.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Haycraft JB. (1884) Ueber die Einwirkung eines Sekretes des officinellen Blutegels auf die Gerinnbarkeit des Blutes. Arch Exp Pathol Pharmakol 18: 209–217.
Markwardt F. (1988) Biochemistry and pharmacology of hirudin. In: Pirkle H, Markland Jr FS, eds. Hemostasis and animal venoms. Marcel Dekker, New York, Basel, pp 255–269.
Markwardt F. (1991) The comeback of hirudin as an antithrombotic agent. Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis 17:79–82.
Rydel TJ, Ravichandran KG, Tulinsky A, Bode W, Huber R, Roitsch C, Fenton II JW. (1990) The structure of a complex of a recombinant hirudin and human a-thrombin. Science 249:277–280.
Sawyer, RT, Damas, D, Tomic MT. (1982) Anatomy and histochemistry of the salivary complex of the giant leech Haementeria ghilianii (Hirudinea: Rhynchobdellida). Arch Zool Exp Gen 122:411–425.
Budzynski AZ, Olexa SA, Sawyer RT. (1981) Composition of salivary gland extracts from the leech Haementeria ghilianii. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 168:259–265.
Budzynski AZ, Olexa, SA, Brizuela BS, Sawyer RT, Stent GS. (1981) Anticoagulant and fibrinolytic properties of salivary proteins from the leech Haementeria ghilianii. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 168:266–275.
Budzynski AZ. (1991) Interaction of hementin with fibrinogen and fibrin. Blood Coagulation and Fibrinolysis 2:149–152.
Malinconico SM, Katz JB, Budzynski AZ. (1984) Hementin: anticoagulant protease from the salivary gland of the leech Haementeria ghilianii. J Lab Clin Med 103:44–60.
Malinconico SM, Katz JB, Budzynski AZ. (1984) Fibrinogen degradation by hementin, a fibrinogenolytic anticoagulant from the salivary glands of the leech Haementeria ghilianii. J Lab Clin Med 104:842–854.
Kirschbaum NE, Budzynski AZ. (1990) A unique proteolytic fragment of human fibrinogen containing the Aa COOH-terminal domain of the native molecule. J Biol Chem 265:13669–13676.
Kirschbaum NE, Budzynski AZ. (1988) Purification and characterization of a fibrinogen fragment containing the COOH-termini of all three chains of the native molecule. In: Mosesson MW, Amrani DL, Siebenlist KR, Diorio JP, eds. Fibrinogen 3. Biochemistry, biological functions, gene regulation and expression. Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, pp. 297–300.
Murer EH, James HL, Budzynski AZ, Malinconico SM, Gasic GJ. (1984) Protease inhibitors in Haementeria leech species. Thromb Haemostas 51:24–26.
Gasic GJ, Viner ED, Budzynski AZ, Gasic GP. (1983) Inhibition of lung tumor colonization by leech salivary gland extracts from Haementeria ghilianii. Cancer Res 43:1633–1636.
Tuszynski GP, Gasic TB, Gasic GJ. (1987) Isolation and characterization of antistasin an inhibitor of metastasis and coagulation. J Biol Chem 262:9718–9723.
Swadesh JK, Huang I-Y, Budzynski AZ. (1990) Purification and characterization of hementin, a fibrinogenolytic protease from the leech Haementeria ghilianii. J Chromatog 502:359–369.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Japan
About this paper
Cite this paper
Budzynski, A.Z. (1992). The Mechanism of Blood Anticoagulation by Leech Hementin. In: Takada, A., Budzynski, A.Z. (eds) Hemostasis and Circulation. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-66925-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-66925-8_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-70096-8
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-66925-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive