Hydration of fibrinogen, fibrin, and fibrin degradation product (FDP) as estimated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

ABSTRACT

The relaxation times (T1 and T2) of water proton in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were measured with solutions containing bovine fibrinogen (Fbg), fibrin degradation products (FDP) and with fibrin-gel (Gel), at varying protein concentrations (0.7-70 mg/ml). Both T1 and T2 declined exponentially with increasing protein concentration. At a protein concentration of 35 mg/ml, the T1 of Fbg, Gel and FDP were 2.32, 2.12 and 2.82 s and the T2 values were 0.35, 0.17 and 0.70, respectively. The relaxation times for the control samples (0.2 M borate buffer) were 3.41 (T1) and 2.28 (T2). When the relaxation rates (the inverse of T1 and T2), R1 and R2 were plotted against the protein concentration, there were positive linear correlations between them. Using the slopes of the plots, the hydration value of each protein was calculated. The hydration value (g of H2O/g of protein) was 0.24 for Fbg, 0.34 for Gel and 0.14 for FDP.