Functional activities and concentrations of plasmin inhibitors in normal subjects and D.I.C. patients

Alpha-2-macroglobulin and fast antiplasmin, the main inhibitors of the fibrinolytic system, and the presence of plasmin-antiplasmin complex (P-AP) were studied in 15 DIC patients and in 20 healthy individuals. There was a lack of correlation between immunological and chromogenic substrates alpha-2 antiplasmin levels when P-AP complex were found in DIC patients (in 6/15 cases). The levels of alpha-2-macroglobulin were within the normal range in most of these patients, confirm the secondary role of this inhibitor in fibrinolysis.