A Comparison of Anticoagulation Activity of a Potent Heparin Preparation in Different Test

The anticoagulant effect of a new potent heparin preparation was compared with a commercially available heparin in vivo after intravenous application in beagle dogs. The anticoagulant activity was determined using thrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time and whole blood clotting time after 5, 10 and 30 minutes of application. The relative potency of the new heparin preparation (Scherinq) was found to be 1.62 to 2.52 times higher than heparin used for comparison (150 USP units/mg, Dio-synth). The anticoagulant properties of both preparations were also studied in vitro using dog and human plasma. The relative potencies in vitro correlated well with those obtained in vivo. Further characterization with amidolytic method using chromogenic substrate for factor Xa and thrombin (S-2222 and S-2238 from KABI, Stockholm) showed that heparin (Schering) contains 243 to 378 USP units/raq depending upon the test systems used to assay the anticoagulation activity and in addition, proves the validity of the amidolytic method.