Fibrinolytic response in normal subjects to venous occlusion and DDAVP infusion

A set of fibrinolytic parameters was measured in 40 healthy subjects before and after a venous occlusion (VO) test lasting 10 min. After VO, plasma levels of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) antigen increased in all subjects, t-PA activity increased only in 25 subjects who were considered responders and remained unchanged in 15 (non-responders). High levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) in the non-responder group explain this discrepancy. The non-responders had basal levels of PAI activity and t-PA antigen higher than responders (p less than 0.0001) and their basal levels of t-PA activity were lower (p less than 0.001). DDAVP infusion elicited good responses in 7 of 9 non-responders to VO with a fall of PAI activity to 0. Our data indicate that a high proportion of healthy subjects do not have a fibrinolytic response after VO, that a lack of fibrinolytic response to VO is due to high plasma levels of PAI and that DDAVP infusion appear to be more selective than VO for detecting non-responders.