Immobilization of an antithrombin–heparin complex on gold: Anticoagulant properties and platelet interactions

The anticoagulant properties and platelet interactions of gold surfaces modified with an antithrombin–heparin (ATH) complex are reported. ATH was attached to gold through either a short disulfide (linker) or a thiol-terminated polyethylene oxide (PEO) (linker, spacer). Analogous surfaces were prepared with uncomplexed heparin. Antithrombin (AT) uptake was measured before and after selectively destroying the active pentasaccharide sequence of the heparin moiety, and was found to be predominantly through the active sequence on all of the surfaces. AT binding was higher on the ATH surfaces than on the corresponding heparin surfaces. Heparin activity was assessed by an anti-factor Xa assay. The ratio of active heparin density (from the anti-FXa assay) to total heparin density was taken as a measure of heparin bioactivity. The ratio was greater on the ATH- than on the heparin-modified surfaces, i.e. the PEO–ATH surfaces showed the greater proportion of active heparin. Platelet adhesion from flowing whole blood was found to be reduced on PEO- and ATH-modified surfaces compared to bare gold. The PEO–ATH modified surfaces, but not the heparinized surfaces, were shown to prolong the clotting time of recalcified plasma.