Unfractionated heparin

Heparin, also known as unfractionated heparin, a highly sulfated glycosaminoglycan, is widely used as an injectable anticoagulant, and has the highest negative charge density of any known biological molecule. It can also be used to form an inner anticoagulant surface on various experimental and medical devices such as test tubes and renal dialysis machines.

Although it is used principally in medicine for anticoagulation, its true physiological role in the body remains unclear, because blood anticoagulation is achieved mostly by heparan sulfate proteoglycans derived from endothelial cells. Heparin is usually stored within the secretory granules of mast cells and released only into the vasculature at sites of tissue injury. It has been proposed that, rather than anticoagulation, the main purpose of heparin is defense at such sites against invading bacteria and other foreign materials. In addition, it is observed across a number of widely different species, including some invertebrates that do not have a similar blood coagulation system.

It is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, a list of the most important medication needed in a basic health system.

Urokinase

Urokinase (trade name Abbokinase), also called urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), is a serine protease (EC3.4.21.73). It was discovered in 1947 by McFarlane. Urokinase was originally isolated from human urine, but is present in several physiological locations, such as blood stream and the extracellular matrix. The primary physiological substrate is plasminogen, which is an inactive form (zymogen) of the serine protease plasmin. Activation of plasmin triggers a proteolysis cascade that, depending on the physiological environment, participates in thrombolysis orextracellular matrix degradation. This links urokinase to vascular diseases and cancer.