BASIC SCIENCE: Lipid Activates Clot Formation.(medical research information)(Brief Article)

The lipid phosphatidylserine (PS), a cell membrane component, appears to activate the final step in the process of blood coagulation-the conversion of prothrombin to thrombin, according to research from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC 27599; Tel: 919/962-2211; Website: www.unc.edu). The study is published in the online edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and in the August print version. Senior author Barry R. Lentz is a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the UNC School of Medicine.

Although Lentz and others have shown that membranes containing PS work best in thrombin formation, the popular view proposed no role for …