The Kinin System of Human Plasma

Summary Human plasma was adsorbed to celite. The celite eluates were chromatographed on QAE-Sephadex A-50, followed by gel filtration, isoelectric focusing and preparative polyacrylamide electrophoresis. By anion-exchange chromatography, factor XI a, kallikrein and y-globulin were isolated from the excluded protein peak. Factor XIa (MW ∼170,000) corrected the deficiency in plasmas deficient in factors XII or XI, but had no effect on the kininsystem. Its isoelectric point was about 8.0-8.5. Kallikrein had a molecular weight of ∼ 90,000 and a pi of 7.8-8.0 The two substances could be isolated also by polyacrylamide electrophoresis. Highly anionic fractions contained a fragment of factor XII a (prekallikrein activator), which activated prekallikrein and retained some of the clot-promoting property of the intact factor XIIa molecule. Its molecular weight was about 37,000, the pi about 4.4 and it migrated as a prealbumin by disc electrophoresis. It is concluded that, by massive contact exposure, most of factor XII a converts to the highly anionic, low-molecular-weight prekallikrein activator. Since the prekallikrein activator is a fragment of factor XII a, we recommend that it be referred to as “XII f”.