Inventory of Exogenous Hemostatic Factors Derived from Arthropods

Abstract

SummaryIn many arthropods agents have been detected which affect the hemostatic mechanism. Some agents, such as those identified in hematophagus arthropods, seem to have evolved to help the animal in the feeding process while, in others, the function cannot be explained, but may be part of a defense mechanism (see Refs. 1-3).Some arthropods possess several agents while in others one agent has different activities, i.e., antithrombin activity as well as inhibition of platelet aggregation. Many agents have been only partially characterized while others have been cloned and prepared in recombinant form.The majority of the agents are small proteins. As to the nomenclature, some agents have been described by the authors but have not been assigned proper names.