Pharmacological stimulation of t-PA release

The acute release of tissue-type plasminogen activator t-PA from the vascular endothelium is of decisive importance for the prevention of intravascular fibrin deposits. A dose-dependent t-PA release from the isolated perfused vascular preparations may be induced by mediators (platelet-activating factor, bradykinin, histamine) adrenergic and cholinergic transmitters (isoprenaline, acetylcholine), thrombin, heparin and analogues, and 1-desamino-8-D-arginine-vasopression (DDAVP). Most of the compounds were shown to enhance the t-PA activity also in animal experiments (rats, rabbits, mini pigs). The pharmacologic stimulation of the t-PA release may be convenient for short-term thrombosis, prophylaxis and partial thrombolysis. Presently, this could only be achieved by unfractionated and low molecular weight heparins which have been shown to release t-PA.