The Extraction of Vascular Plasminogen Activator from Human Cadavers and a Description of Some of Its Properties

Abstract

Plasminogen activator was found to diffuse rapidly in large quantities into a warmed buffered saline solution retained in the vascular tree of the lower extremity of the human cadaver. The extractions, carried out 4 to 23 hours after death, yielded an average of 14.5 CTA (Committee on Thrombolytic Agents) units per ml. activator solution, with a total average yield of 9,621 units per leg. Correlations of activator yield with age, cause of death, and time elapsed after death before extraction were not observed. The activator, which is not sedimented by centrifligation at 100,000 × g., converts human plasminogen into plasmin at the zero-order reaction. It is rather stabile in the cold after ammonium sulfate factionation.