A Comparative Study of Fibrinolytic Activity in Human, Rat, Rabbit, and Dog Biood

Abstract

Fibrinolytic activity in the blood of commonly used laboratory animals: rats, rabbits, and dogs, was compared to that of the human. It was found that the animal blood required activation with high concentrations of urokinase or streptokinase before dilute whole blood fibrinolytic activity could be detected; in contrast, the human samples lysed spontaneously. The failure to detect spontaneous fibrinolysis in the animal blood samples was shown to be due to a high level of antifibrinolytic activity. As demonstrated by this study, the rat, rabbit, and dog are not acceptable as substitutes for the human in fibrinolytic studies.