An emerging area of research has documented a novel role for the plasminogen activation system in the regulation of neurotransmitter release. Prohormones, secreted by cells within the sympathoadrenal system, are processed by plasmin to bioactive peptides that feed back to inhibit secretagogue-stimulated release. Catecholaminergic cells of the sympathoadrenal system are prototypic prohormone-sec...

In vivo plasminogen responses to various stimuli were studied. Plasminogen-(125)I was prepared and used first for metabolic studies of plasminogen in control dogs. The average results were: the plasma plasminogen, 29.3+/-4.1 (SD) mg/kg; the interstitial plasminogen, 8.79+/-4.47 (SD) mg/kg; the half-life of plasma plasminogen-(125)I, 2.81+/-0.24 (SD) days; the fractional direct catabolic rate of...

The relative contribution of several mechanisms to plasminogen activation and fibrin dissolution by urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) in vitro was quantitated. The activation of plasminogen by recombinant single chain u-PA (rscu-PA), by its two chain derivative (rtcu-PA) and by a plasmin-resistant mutant, rscu-PA-Glu158, obeys Michaelis-Menten kinetics with catalytic efficiencies of 0...

Plasma samples from patients with alcoholic cirrhosis were analysed for plasminogen activators and for inhibitors of the fibrinolytic system. Plasminogen activator activity was considerably increased in patients' plasma compared with normal. Immunochemical characterisation of these plasminogen activators showed that they included both tissue type and urokinase type plasminogen activator. The ma...

The occurrence and distribution of components of fibrinolysis pathways were determined using immunohistochemical techniques applied to 10 cases of primary carcinoma of the breast, normal breast tissue obtained from two patients undergoing reductive mammoplasty, and three cases of benign breast tumors. Tumor cells stained for urokinase- and tissue-type plasminogen activators, plasminogen activat...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Congenitally abnormal plasminogen is characterized by markedly decreased fibrinolytic activity and has been reported mainly in association with venous occlusive disease. CASE DESCRIPTION We found three young adult patients (34, 45, and 27 years old at onset) with ischemic cerebrovascular disease, all of whom had congenital plasminogen abnormalities but no other known ri...

We have investigated the fibrinolytic status of 56 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Plasma fibrinogen and plasminogen were significantly elevated. Levels of these two substrates, along with alpha 2 macroglobulin and antithrombin III correlated with disease activity. Plasminogen activator (PA) activity was decreased in patients with severe disease. Twelve patients were given stanozolol, ...

Plasminogen activator activity was studied in bile and perfusate during extracorporeal pig liver perfusion. Plasminogen activator activity in bile was up to 58 times greater than in perfusate. A high level of plasminogen activator activity in bile was also found after the addition of urokinase to the perfusate. These results suggest that bile is the main route of active excretion of plasminogen...

the regulation of fibrinolysis in the blood vessel by producing plasminogen activators and plasminogen activator inhibitors. Defects in physiological regulation of the balance of the activities between plasminogen activator and the inhibitors may cause vascular diseases such as thromboembolismand atherosclerosis. In patients with such diseases, the inhibitor may be dominant in this balance. Act...

Ligneous conjunctivitis is a rare form of chronic pseudomembranous conjunctivitis that is associated with systemic membranous pathological changes. A probable link between plasminogen and ligneous conjunctivitis has been indicated by the recent diagnoses of plasminogen deficiency in five patients suffering from ligneous conjunctivitis. The current study reports that plasminogen-deficient mice d...