[Cytoplasmic membrane damage and thromboplastinemia in hypercholesterolemia]

Experiments on 67 rabbits were performed to examine the injured external cell membranes of the vascular wall, appearing in the blood flow in the course of the development of alimentary hypercholesterolemia. The time of the appearance in the blood plasma of the external cell membranes was judged from the activity of their specific marker, 5'-nucleotidase. An abrupt increase in 5'-nucleotidase activity was disclosed in the blood plasma at the height of hypercholesterolemia. The latter circumstance served as an objective criterion for injury to ther external cell membranes and might be regarded as a risk factor in thrombus formation.