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Updated: Jul 18, 2025

Experimental and Imaging Techniques for Examining Fibrin Clot Structures in Normal and Diseased States
Published on: April 1, 2015
Fibrinogen and fibrin: synthesis, structure, and function in health and disease
1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UNC Blood Research Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
Abstract:
Fibrinogen is an extraordinary molecule by any estimation. It is large, structurally intricate, and circulates at high concentrations. Its biological end product, insoluble fibrin(ogen) or fibrin, can assume a diverse array of conformations with the ability to interact with numerous plasma proteins and cells and withstand biochemical and biomechanical disruption to facilitate wound healing. Quantitative and qualitative defects in fibrinogen or fibrin are associated with bleeding, thrombosis, inflammation, and diseases affected by these processes. Numerous studies investigating mechanisms by which fibrin(ogen) and fibrin contribute to health and disease have been published. This review for the 20th-anniversary series in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis summarizes interesting aspects of fibrin(ogen) biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and physiology and highlights exciting findings published in the past 2 decades.
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