Determination of factor XIII activity by a new photometric assay in plasma and platelets of healthy blood donors.
Crosslinking of fibrin monomers by activated factor XIII (F XIIIa) is a final event in blood coagulation. So the fibrin clot gains mechanical stability and resistance to plasmin degradation which is thought to be essential for normal blood clotting and wound healing (1-3). In addition, changes in plasma F XIII activity were found in several state of disease such as collagenoses, inflammatory bowel diseases, leukemias, subarachnoidal bleeding and delayed fracture healing (4-12). Because approximately 50% of the potential F XIII activity in plasma are present in platelets (1), the additional determination of F XIII activity in platelets is of clinical interest especially concerning platelet transfusions that may exert an additional benefit due to simultaneous substitution of platelet-bound F XIII. The latter differs from plasma F XIII as a dimer containing only a-chains (a2) compared to the plasmatic tetramer carrying additional b-chains (a2b2). We applied a recently described photometric assay suitable for the routine laboratory after adaption to an autoanalyser to determine F XIII activity in plasma and platelets of 64 healthy blood donors.
Department of Clinical Hemostaseology and Transfusion Medicine, University of Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
B
B
Wagner
U T
UT
Seyfert
M
M
Gosse
E
E
Wenzel
K
K
Fickenscher
H G
HG
Ruhl
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001322:Autoanalysis / Q000295:instrumentation; D001782:Blood Donors; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000378:metabolism*; D005176:Factor XIII / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010783:Photometry; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D005176:Factor XIII