| Nattokinase (NK) is a fibrinolytic enzyme that is extracted from natto—a Japanese traditional food. Compared with thrombolytic agents which have been used in common such as streptokinase (SK), urokinase (UK), Nattokinase is safer, and more direct and more persistent effect on thrombosis and the cost is lower. And it also can be used as the preventive medicine of heart and brain vessel disease. So it can be developed as a new and potent drag. But when it is in the environment where the pH is 5 or blower, Nattokinase will lose its bio-function. On the other hand, Natto is a kind of food which has been used more than 2,000 years. Since it is used as a function food, the effected component should suffer the lower pH and hydroly by pepsin. Does this means that there is something in natto which could combine with the nattokinase and then keep its bioactive when they are in stomach? We are interested in studying of it. Through the culture medium-fibrin-plate method, we screened a clone of Bacillus Natto from the different Bacillus Nattos which can produce great quantity of fibrinolytic enzymes. Fermenting mixture of the BN and the soybean, we produced the natto. Using the new procedures with acid extraction, and gel filtration (Sephadex G-25), we have produced the nattokinase preparation. This preparation can not only have the bio-function of fibrinolysin, also anticoagulation. Especially, our preparation still has its bioactivity at pH2.45 and after digestion with pepsin. The preparation showed there are more than one protein band on gels SDS-PAGE, which means there are some other component besides the nattokinase in the preparation. Maybe it is the reason that can keep the bioactive of BN in low pH and pepsin. |
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