Earthworm plasminogen activator

Initially, fibrinolytic activity is measured by both plasminogen-rich and plasminogen-free fibrin plates [46,47]. When an individual earthworm is cut into pieces and placed on a plasminogcn-rich fibrin plate, fibrinolytic activity can be detected at the anterior portion of the earthworm [3]. The average fibrinolytic activity of the 6-isozyme mixture is about 100 CU (plasmin unit) and 250 IU (urokinase unit) [3,24]. Although the fibrin plate is usually used to measure the activity, it is a time-consuming process (18 24 hr) indeed. 

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