Antiheparin Factor

Medical Condition:
Antiheparin Factor

A high-molecular-weight proteoglycan-platelet factor complex which is released from blood platelets by thrombin. It acts as a mediator in the heparin-neutralizing capacity of the blood and plays a role in platelet aggregation. At high ionic strength (I=0.75), the complex dissociates into the active component (molecular weight 29,000) and the proteoglycan carrier (chondroitin 4-sulfate, molecular weight 350,000). The molecule exists in the form of a dimer consisting of 8 moles of platelet factor 4 and 2 moles of proteoglycan.