Relationship between gender difference in intravascular aggregation of platelets and the fibrinolytic pathway in the...

Intravascular aggregation of platelets was evaluated in relation to the fibrinolytic system in order to assess the possibility of a "cause-effect" relationship. The spontaneous fibrinolytic activities of the plasma of male rats and of female rats at the various stages of the oestrous cycle were determined. Male rats had higher euglobulin clot lysis time (54.5 +/- 5.3 vs 29.2 +/- 3.1 min; P less than 0.05), higher fibrinogen levels (330.0 +/- 15.8 vs 231.0 +/- 31.1 mg/dl; P less than 0.025) and higher plasminogen activity (8.1 +/- 1.2 vs 6.1 +/- 1.6 plasmin units/ml; P less than 0.05) than female rats. Female rats had higher fibrinolytic index (8.8 +/- 0.8 vs 6.3 +/- 0.3 mg/dl; P less than 0.05) and plasminogen activator activity (99.1 +/- 6.0 vs 76.5 +/- 7.7 Plough units/ml; P less than 0.05) than male rats. The antiplasmin activities were the same in both sexes. During the oestrous cycle in female rats, euglobulin clot lysis time was not significantly different though it was highest during met-oestrous (34.2 +/- 3.6 min). However, pro-oestrous rats had lower fibrinogen (122.9 +/- 5.3 mg/dl; P less than 0.005), higher fibrinolytic index (10.6 +/- 0.8 mg/dl/min; P less than 0.001) and higher plasminogen activator activity (109.4 +/- 7.8 Plough units/ml; P less than 0.05) than rats from the other stages of the oestrous cycle. There were no significant differences in plasminogen content and antiplasmin activity. Using native rats, aggregatory responses to submaximal doses of adenosine diphosphate (20 micrograms/kg) were determined and correlated with the fibrinolytic data in age- and weight-matched rats (of both sexes). Aggregatory responses in all the groups of rats used correlated positively with fibrinogen levels (r = 0.8316; P less than 0.001) and negatively with plasminogen activator activity (r = -0.7839; P less than 0.05). Streptokinase (250-1000 Plough units/kg/hr) and urokinase (1000-4000 Plough units/kg/hr) produced dose-related reductions in intravascular aggregation induced by adenosine diphosphate. The streptokinase effect (but not urokinase effect) was reversed by epsilon-aminocaproic acid. Following the cessation of infusion of streptokinase and urokinase, there was a recovery of the platelets to aggregate to adenosine diphosphate. These observations suggest fibrinolytic pathway-specific effects. However, on its own, epsilon-amino-caproic acid did not affect the aggregatory responses of platelets from pro-oestrous rats. These results suggest that changes in fibrinolytic mechanisms may account for differences observed in intravascular aggregation of platelets of male and female rats and of female rats during the oestrous cycle.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)