The euglobulin lysis time test: an ineffectual monitor of the therapeutic inhibition of fibrinolysis

In two clinical situations associated with hyperfibrinolysis the administration of antifibrinolytic drugs resulted in clinical haemostasis. The dilute clot lysis time and fibrin plate activity test but not the euglobulin lysis time reflected this control of excessive fibrinolysis by the antifibrinolytic drugs. The inhibition by epsilon-amino-caproic acid (EACA) of hyperfibrinolysis induced in vitro was reflected by the dilute clot lysis time but not by the euglobulin lysis time. Paper chromatography of the supernatant and euglobulin fractions as prepared for the euglobulin lysis time test from plasma with added EACA demonstrated that some 85% of the EACA was present in the supernatant, normally discarded during the test. Similarly, cellulose-acetate electrophoresis of the supernatant and euglobulin fractions from plasma containing Trasylol demonstrated the drug in the supernatant only. These findings indicate that when acetic acid is added to plasma containing EACA or Trasylol only a small proportion of the drug is precipitated with the euglobulin fraction. The euglobulin lysis time is thus an inaccurate index of the neutralization of hyperfibrinolysis by antifibrinolytic drugs.

[Investigations on ATP and other organic phosphorus compounds in the sieve tube sap of Yucca flaccida and Salix triandra]

1. Like the sieve tube sap of dicotyledons analysed so far, the phloem exudate of Yucca flaccida contains a high level of ATP, i.e. 615 μg/ml on the average. ATP concentration in the phloem exudate does not decrease during extended periods of exudation. 2. The pattern of labelled phosphorylated compounds after feeding of (32)PO 4 (---) is essentially similar in the phloem exudate of Yucca flaccida and in the exudate from the mouth parts of aphids feeding on Salix triandra phloem. 3. The label was incorporated very rapidly into most of the phosphorylated organic compounds present in the exudate of Yucca flaccida. in the first phase after feeding of (32)PO 4 (---) only the label in fructose-1,6-diphosphate and possibly the label in ATP was still increasing in relation to the total radioactivity. This increment was correlated to a loss of radioactivity in the inorganic phosphate fraction. 4. Specific radioactivity of inorganic phosphate and ATP in the sieve tube sap of Yucca flaccida increased continuously throughout the experiments while (32)PO 4 (-) was administered externally. This trend continued for some time after removal of the external source of label.