Extraction of plasminogen activator in the rat's submaxillary gland

Plasminogen is activated into the fibrinolytic enzyme plasmin via: a tissue type activator and F-XII dependent and F-XII independent systems. The purpose of this study was extract and quantify the tissue-type plasminogen activator present in the salivary glands of rats. The extracted plasminogen activator-EPA- was obtained by homogenizing 1 vol of tissue with 1 vol of 2M KSCN solution. Solution with EPA was applied by triplicated in the standard plasminogen-rich and plasminogen-free fibrin plates. The degree of fibrinolytic activity was observed as areas of liquefaction and measured as the product (mm2) of the two perpendicular diameter of the lysed zones. The submaxillary's EPA produced a mean lytic area of 198 mm2 +/- 18 SEM only in the plasminogen-rich fibrin plate. This activity extrapolated into a standard dilution curve, represented the equivalent to a 50 mg/ml plasmin solution. No lysis was induced by EPA from parotid and sublingual glands. The antifibrinolytic drug E-ACA in a dose dependent inhibitory action, significantly reduced the lytic activity induced by submaxillary's EPA. The observation that EPA produced areas of liquefaction only in plasminogen-rich fibrin plate and that this activity was inhibited by E-ACA is clear indication that the zones of lysis was specific fibrinolysis -activation of plasminogen into plasmin- and not due to non-specific proteolysis.