Studies on the Coumarin Anticoagulant Drugs: Interaction of Human Plasma Albumin and Warfarin Sodium

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Abstract

In studies by continuous flow electrophoresis the coumarin anticoagulant drug warfarin sodium was found to be bound solely to the albumin fraction of the plasma proteins. The interaction was studied in detail by equilibrium dialysis of solutions of crystalline human plasma albumin and warfarin sodium. Analysis of the data showed that albumin possesses a single strong binding site for warfarin with an association constant of 154,000 at 3° C and secondary classes of several sites with a much lower affinity. The free energy of binding for the first anion determined at 3° and 37° C was -6.54 and -7.01 kcal per mole, respectively. The standard enthalpy change for the interaction was -3.48 kcal per mole, and the entropy change was +11.2 U.

Authors

Robert A. O'Reilly