Research progress of limulus coagulation mechanism and limulus reagents

Abstract

The coagulation system of Limulus is mainly composed of coagulation proteins such as factor G, factor C, factor B, and prothrombin. The traditional horseshoe crab reagent for endotoxin detection is not specific, and its colorimetric reaction is activated through two pathways: one is activated by endotoxin to activate factor C, and the other is activated by (1,3)- β-D-glucan activates factor G. The horseshoe crab reagent is composed of a series of serine proteases and is a biological reagent made by treating horseshoe crab blood cell lysate. The detection principle is that the Limulus amebocyte lysate clotting factor protein is activated by endotoxin or fungal glucan to generate a series of cascade reactions to form insoluble gel substances, and then it is used to detect bacterial endotoxin or fungal glucan contaminated in biological products through the chromogenic reaction of the chromogenic matrix. Mainly used in multiple fields such as drug inspection, food, medical equipment, clinical medical research, etc. This article mainly summarizes and summarizes the coagulation mechanism of horseshoe crab and the current development status of horseshoe crab reagents.