Identification of lumbrokinase by fibrin-plate method, fibrin-zymography and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry

Abstract

Lumbrokinase, extracted from the cultured earthworm of Eisenia fetida, has been widely used as biochemical medicine in China to prevent or treat thrombosis. In the present study, the mechanism of lumbrokinase was investigated using the fibrin plate method. The results revealed that lumbrokinase contained both fibrinolytic and kinase components. The method of fibrin-zymography was used to show the existence and activity of lumbrokinase, and we proved that the fibrin-zymogram gel could be adopted as the identification method of earthworm. Subsequently, the components were identified by mass spectrometry. According to the results, fibrinolytic related components existed in the drug. These proteins were further compared with other serine proteins. The result showed that the identified proteins were similar to human trypsin and bovine trypsin. Besides, some also exhibited similar characteristics with human plasminogen activators. The mentioned results demonstrated that lumbrokinase products contained two major groups of protein components, suggesting two different functions.