The effect of hypofibrinogenemia with batroxobin on rat Masugi nephritis

The effect of hypofibrinogenemia with batroxobin on proliferative glomerular lesions of Masugi nephritis was examined in the rat. Batroxobin-treated rats had a relatively low level of plasma fibrinogen and a reduction in glomerular fibrin deposition. Mean nuclear counts in the outer cortical glomeruli were less in the batroxobin-treated group than in the untreated group on the 7th day. However, the difference in the overall severity of the glomerular histologic lesions between the two groups was not significant. Continual injections of the same dosage of batroxobin failed to maintain hypofibrinogenemia, possibly due to the antibody formation. These results suggest that relatively low plasma levels of fibrinogen are obviously not effective enough to prevent the development of the proliferative lesions in rat Masugi nephritis.