The clearance of human fibrinogen fragments D₁, D₂, D₃ and fibrin fragment D₁ dimer in mice

The clearance of human fibrinogen fragments D1, D2, D3 and fibrin fragment D1 dimer were studied in the mouse model. Clearance of these fragments is a complex process involving clearance from blood into three other compartments. The overall clearance of fragment D1 and its dimer were essentially identical. Fragments D2 and D3 cleared at a progressively slower rate. Competition studies were performed between 125I-labeled fragment D1 and large molar excesses of unlabelled human fragments D1, D2, D3, D1 dimer, fragment E, fibrinogen, macroalbumin, mannan and asialooroscomucoid. Of these ligands only the fragment D variants competed for the clearance of 125I-labeled fragment D1. Cross-competition was observed when 125I-labeled fragment D1 dimer was cleared in the presence of large molar excesses of fragment D1. Autopsies demonstrated that injected fragments D1, D2, D3 and D1 dimer cleared primarily in liver and kidneys. In some clearance studies, livers were perfused with tissue culture fluid, subjected to light microscopic autoradiography, and silver grain counts performed to localize cleared fragment D1. These experiments indicated that 80% of the liver uptake was in hepatocytes. However, when silver grain counts were normalized for the number of parenchymal and nonparenchymal cells, the distribution of silver grains was essentially identical (1.8 and 1.6 grains per cell, respectively). It is concluded that fragments D1, D2, D3 and D1 dimer are recognized by a similar clearance pathway. Since neither fibrinogen nor fragment E competed for the clearance of fragment D1, it is suggested that determinants present in the fragment D domain become exposed after plasmin attack on fibrinogen and are responsible for clearance. © 1982.

Duke Scholars

Author Salvatore Vincent Pizzo Pathology