Polyunsaturated fatty acids increase fibrinolytic activity of human isolated glomeruli

The release of plasminogen activators (PA) from human isolated glomeruli has been studied by a sensitive radioenzymatic assay using 125I-fibrin coated tubes and plasminogen. The glomerular fibrinolytic activity (GFA) was detectable after 15 minutes of incubation. Then it increased with time, the glomerular protein concentration, and with the plasminogen concentration (P less than 0.001 for all). CaCl2 (1 mM) increased the GFA (9.7 +/- 0.9 versus 4.9 +/- 0.4 micrograms fibrin/mg/30 min, P less than 0.05). The GFA was also enhanced when pH increased. Arachidonic acid (AA, 1 to 20 micrograms/ml) increased the GFA in a saturable manner. Inhibitors of cyclooxygenase (aspirin) or of lipoxygenase (nordihydroguaiaretic acid) did not modify the basal and AA-stimulated GFA. Other polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), eicosatrienoic acid (ETA), eicosatetraynoic acid (ETYA), or dihomo-gamma-linoleic acid (DHL), also stimulated the GFA whereas linoleic acid and oleic acid did not. Polyunsaturated fatty acids also stimulated the fibrinolytic activity of glomerular supernatants. Specific antibodies to t-PA, and to a lesser extent to u-PA, decreased this fibrinolytic activity whether or not AA was added. Furthermore, AA and EPA were found to increase the activity of purified u-PA and t-PA. We conclude that human glomeruli release both t-PA and u-PA, and that this release is increased by calcium and alkaline pH. The polyunsaturated fatty acids enhanced the GFA, mainly by a stimulatory effect of PA activity rather than an increased release of PA from glomerular cells.