[Qualitative changes in plasma fibrinogen in irradiated rabbits]

Plasma fibrinogens of sublethally irradiated rabbits (8 Gy X-ray irradiation) were isolated by affinity chromatography on fibrin monomer Sepharose and characterised by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with sodium dodecylsulfate before and after reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol. Only a small increase of fibrinogen degradation was mainly observed in early phases after irradiation. Fibrin monomer complexes were precipitated together with fibrinogen by 2,5 mol beta-alanine/l. The content of monomer complexes in the precipitate was estimated using Sepharose 6B gel chromatography. Evidence for an increased formation of monomers in the blood could not be obtained. Therefore, proteolytic changes of fibrinogen do not play a role for inducing a hemorrhagic disorder after sublethal X-ray irradiation in rabbits.