title: Plasminogen activators t-PA, u-PA and its inhibitor (PAI) in normal males and females.
abstract: We determined the plasma levels of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) activity and their antigen levels including urokinase plasminogen activator (u-PA) in 33 male and 27 female normal subjects. Males had mean t-PA activity of 0.50 iu/ml which was significantly lower (p less than 0.01) than the females 0.64 iu/ml. Males had higher (p less than 0.001) mean PAI activity (15.5 AU/ml) as compared to females 10.3 AU/ml. The respective mean levels of t-PA and PAI antigen were significantly higher (p less than 0.01) in males (8.1 ng/ml and 17.6 ng/ml) than in females (6.2 ng/ml and 12.1 ng/ml). The mean u-PA level in males was 1.54 ng/ml which was significantly higher (p less than 0.01) than in females with 1.02 ng/ml. In post-venous occlusion studies, females had a greater mean response of 8.6 fold in t-PA activity as compared to males with a mean of 4.5 fold increase. The mean t-PA antigen response in males was 2.0 fold increase as compared to 2.6 fold increase in the females. No significant responses were seen in both sexes in either PAI activity or antigen levels when compared with the resting state. In zymography studies, free t-PA, its inhibitor complexes and u-PA were demonstrated in the euglobulin fractions of stored plasma. This study demonstrates that significant differences in t-PA, u-PA and PAI exist between male and female subjects which should be taken into account when determining their levels in clinical conditions.
authors.affiliation: National University of Singapore, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University Hospital.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yuen
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Viegas
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ratnam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004792:Enzyme Precursors / Q000097:blood / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005337:Fibrin / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015849:Plasminogen Inactivators / Q000097:blood* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator / Q000097:blood* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator / Q000097:blood* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D004792:Enzyme Precursors; D015849:Plasminogen Inactivators; D005337:Fibrin; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator