Novel plasmin inhibitors released from bovine platelets during aggregation.

The antifibrinolytic activity was found in the medium of platelet suspension in the process of platelet aggregation induced by thrombin, ADP and 5-hydroxytryptamine. The antifibrinolytic activity was closely associated with inhibitors in platelets, which specifically inhibited plasmin activity and not inhibited other proteases such as urokinase, thrombin and trypsin. One casein unit of plasmin activity was inhibited by the inhibitors released from approximately 10(8) platelets during the aggregation with thrombin. By the activity staining analysis, it was found that there are two kinds of plasmin inhibitors with molecular weights of 25,000 and 17,000. The physiological function of these inhibitors was discussed in relation to the formation of thrombus.