The Acelerating Effect of Fibrinogen and Early Fibrinogen Degradation Products on Erythrocyte Sedimentation

Summary

The fibrinogen molecule has a number of biological activities and some of these are shared by the larger degradation products. This study was carried out to investigate the erythrocyte sedimentation-accelerating property of fibrinogen and how this property might be modified by proteolytic digestion with plasmin.

The sedimentation rate of washed human red cells suspended in saline, was found to be directly proportional to the concentration of added purified human fibrinogen, down to 250 mg%, below which there was no difference from saline controls. Plasmic digestion of fibrinogen yielding fragment X, did not reduce the accelerating affect on erythrocyte sedimentation, indicating that the intact carboxyl terminal end of the Aα chain is unnecessary for this phenomenon. Further digestion to fragment Y reduced the effect slightly but digestion to fragments D and E abolished the accelerating effect completely.

• References

• 1 Ahlqvist J. 1977; Another pathologist’s views on DIC and thrombosis and on their relationship to the ESR. Thrombosis and Haemostasis 38: 591
• 2 Fahraeus R. 1921; The suspension stability of the blood. Acta Medica Scandinavica 55: 1
• 3 Gilligan DR, Ernstene AC. 1934; The relationship between the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and fibrinogen content of plasma. American Journal of Medical Science 187: 552
• 4 Hawiger J, Hammond DK, Timmons S. 1975; Human fibrinogen possesses binding sites for staphylococci on Aa and Bp polypeptide chains. Nature 258: 643
• 5 Holt JC, Mahmoud M, Gaffney PJ. 1978. The ability of fibrinogen fragments to support ADP-induced platelet aggregation. XVII Congress of the International Society of Haematology. Paris:
• 6 Hutchinson RM, Eastham RD. 1977; A comparison of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and plasma viscosity in detecting changes in plasma proteins. Journal of Clinical Pathology 30: 345
• 7 Kernick D, Jay AW L, Rowlands S. 1974; Erythrocyte settling. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacolocgy 52: 1167
• 8 Konttinen Y. 1968. Fibrinolysis, Chemistry, physiology, pathology and clinics. Star Pharmaceuticals; Tampere Finland:
• 9 Lewis SM. 1973; Reference method for the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) test on human blood. British Journal of Haematology 24: 671
• 10 Marsh NA. 1978. The effect of fibrinogen and fibrinogen degradation products on erythrocyte sedimentation rate. XVII Congress of the International Society of Haematology. Paris:
• 11 Niewiarowski S, Budzynski AZ, Lipinski B. 1977; Significance of the intact polypeptide chains of human fibrinogen in ADP-induced platelet aggregation. Blood 49: 635
• 12 Niewiarowski S, Latallo Z. 1957; Influence of plasmin on the first coagulation stage. Bulletin de l’Academie polonaise des Sciences 5: 219
• 13 Rampling MW. 1978. The binding of fibrinogen to the erythrocyte membrane. XVII Congress of the International Society of Haematology. Paris:
• 14 Rampling MW, Gaffney PJ. 1976; The sulphite precipitation method for fibrinogen measurement; its use on small samples in the presence of fibrinogen degradation products. Clinica Chimica Acta 67: 43
• 15 Rampling MW, Sms JA. 1977; Fibrinogen, fibrinogen degradation products and erythrocyte flexibility. Thrombosis and Haemostasis 38: 668
• 16 Salzman EW. 1971; Role of platelets in blood-surface interactions. Federation Proceedings 30: 1503
• 17 Weber K, Osborn M. 1969; The reliability of molecular weight determinations by dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Journal of Biological Chemistry 244: 4406