Anticoagulants, Thrombolytics, and Direct Thrombin Inhibitors Flashcards
What are procoagulants?
Promote coagulation
What are anticoagulants?
Inhibit coagulation
Do procoagulants or anticoagulants normally predominate?
Anticoagulants
When are procoagulants activated in normal physiology?
When a vessel is ruptured
What is the process of normal hemostasis?
- Damage occurs to a blood vessel
- Vascular constriction (immediate)
- Platelets immediately begin to adhere to the cut edges of the vessel and release chemicals to attract even more platelets (immediate)
- Platelet plug forms
- Clotting factors cause strands of fibrin to stick together and seal the inside of the wound (15-20 seconds up to 1-2 minutes)
- Clot dissolution (few hours to 1-2 weeks)
How do platelets participate in clot formation? (3 ways)
- anchoring sites for coagulation factor activation complexes
- Delivery “vehicles” releasing hemostatically active proteins
- Major structural components of the clot
What participants are required for clot formation?
Vascular endothelium
Platelets
Plasma-mediated hemostasis
What is the vascular endothelial role in hemostasis?
Normal, intact vascular endothelium provides nonthrombogenic surface (antiplatelets, anticoagulants, profibrinolytics)
Damage to endothelium exposes the underlying extracellular matrix and releases collagen, von Willebrand factor, hormones, cytokines, and other procoagulants
What 3 things can induce prothrombotic endothelial changes?
Thrombin, hypoxia, and high fluid shear stress
Where are platelets formed?
bone marrow
What is the normal concentration of platelets?
150,000-300,000 per microliter
At what platelet level can spontaneous bleeding occur?
50,000
At what platelet level is it lethal and can definitely cause spontaneous hemorrhage?
20,000
How long is the life of a platelet?
8-12 days
How are platelets removed?
Macrophages in the spleen
What are the 3 major phases platelets undergo when they are exposed to the extracellular matrix in damaged endothelium?
Adhesion
Activation
Aggregation
What is platelet adhesion?
Exposure to subendothelial matrix proteins (collagen, vWF, fibronectin) allows platelets to adhere to vascular wall
Which of the molecules involved in platelet adhesion is particularly important?
vWF - bridging molecule between the subendothelial matrix and platelets (glycoprotein 1b, factor IX, factor V receptor complexes)
What is platelet activation?
Occurs after platelets adhere to endothelial damaged wall, series of physical and biochemical changes that occur
- platelets release granular contents (ADP, calcium, serotonin, histamine, epinephrine, TXA2, etc) resulting in recruitment and activation of additional platelets
- platelets develop pseudopod-like membrane extensions to increase platelet surface area
What is platelet aggregation?
- activators released during the activation phase recruit additional platelets to the site of injury
- newly activated glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor on the platelet surface bind fibrinogen to provide for cross-linking with adjacent platelets
What is plasma mediated hemostasis?
Amplification of thrombin generated from an inactive precursor (prothrombin)
Trace plasma proteins, activated by exposure to tissue factor or foreign substances, initiate a cascading series of reactions culminating in conversion of soluble fibrinogen to insoluble fibrin clot
What is thromboxane A2 (TXA2) and how is it produced?
Produced by activated platelets and has prothrombotic properties, stimulates activation of new platelets as well as increases platelet aggregation (mediates expression of glycoprotein complex IIb/IIIa in cell membrane of platelets)
What is another property of thromboxane A2 that makes it especially important during tissue injury and inflammation?
Vasoconstrictor
Where are most coagulation factors synthesized?
liver
How are coagulation factors identified?
Roman numerals assigned in order of discovery
Where is vWF synthesized?
endothelial cells
Which factors are vitamin K dependent?
Factor II, VII, IX, and X
Are most factors enzymes?
Yes, with a few exception
Do coagulation factors circulate as active or inactive proteins?
Inactive
What is factor I?
Fibrinogen
What is factor II?
Prothrombin
How can you determine if a factor is an active or inactive enzyme?
a lower-case letter “a” indicates active enzyme
What is another name for the intrinsic pathway of coagulation?
“contact activation system”
What is the process of the intrinsic pathway of coagulation?
- Begins with damage to blood vessels
- Formation of the primary complex on collagen and thrombin generation by way of factor XII and ultimately merges to the common pathway and activates factor X
What is another name for the extrinsic pathway of coagulation?
“Tissue factor pathway”
What is the process of the extrinsic pathway of coagulation?
- Initial step in plasma-mediated hemostasis
- Begins with exposure of blood plasma to tissue factor
- After injury factor VIIa circulating the plasma forms a complex with tissue factor, factor X and calcium to promote the conversion of X to Xa
What is the common pathway of coagulation?
- Common to both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways
- Formation of thrombin which causes subsequent fibrin formation
- SIgnal amplification
Where is prothrombin (factor II) produced and what is required for the formation of prothrombin?
Produced in liver
Vitamin K required for its formation
- Lack of vitamin K or liver disease will result in decreased prothrombin levels and bleeding tendencies
Where are the receptors for prothrombin?
attaches to receptors on the surface of platelets
Where is fibrinogen (factor I) formed?
liver
liver disease can decrease the concentration of circulating fibrinogen
What is a clot primarily composed of?
plasminogen, plasmin, fibrin, and fibrin degradation products
What is the process of forming a blood clot?
- thrombin converts fibrinogen to fibrin
- covalent bonds between fibrin molecules and cross-linking of fibers creates a meshwork in all directions of blood cells, platelets and plasma which adhere to the surface of the damaged blood vessel
How are blood clots lysed?
- plasminogen activated to plasmin by tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA)
- plasmin digests fibrin fibers, fibrinogen, factor V, factor VIII, prothrombin, and factor XII
What are anticoagulants?
prevent clot formation or extension of existing clot
Ex: Warfarin, heparin, LMWH, direct thrombin inhibitors
What are antiplatelet agents?
reduce platelet aggregation, prevent stroke, MI, TIA
Ex: ASA, plavix, ticlid, NSAIDS
What are GP IIB/IIIA inhibitors?
prevent platelet aggregation on the surface of the platelet
Ex: Abxicimab (reopro), eptifibatide (Integrillin)
Do anticoagulants have an effect on a clot after it is formed?
No
What anticoagulant is used to prevent blood coagulation outside of the body?
citrate ion - any substance that deionizes the blood calcium will prevent coagulation
How does citrate work?
negatively charged citrate ion combines with calcium in the blood to cause an un-ionized calcium compound
How is citrate eliminated?
removed by liver and polymerized into glucose or metabolized
What happens with the citrate if there is liver damage or mass blood transfusion?
citrate ion may not be removed quickly enough and this can greatly depress the level of calcium ion in the blood –> citrate toxicity
What is the mechanism of action of heparin?
- binds to antithrombin (antithrombin III) and enhances 1,000 times the ability of antithrombin to inactivate a number of coagulation enzymes (thrombin, factors Xa, XII, XI, and IX)
- neutralized thrombin prevents the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin
Where does heparin come from?
bovine (cattle), porcine (pig), and endogenous
What clotting pathways does heparin block?
classic intrinsic and final common pathway
How is heparin prescribed?
units
How does the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) define 1 unit of heparin?
amount of heparin that maintains the fluidity of 1 mL of citrated sheep plasma for 1 hour after re-calcification