Blood coagulation is a cascade of complex enzymatic reactions which involves specific proteins and cellular components to interact and prevent blood loss. The coagulation process begins by either "Tissue Dependent Pathway" (also known as extrinsic pathway) or by "contact activation pathway" (also known as intrinsic pathway). TFPI is an endogenous multivalent Kunitz type protease inhibitor which...

Blood coagulation is a complex biological mechanism aimed to avoid bleeding in which a highly regulated and coordinated interplay of specific proteins and cellular components respond quickly to a vascular injury. However, when this mechanisms occurs in the coronary circulation, it has not a "protective" effect, but rather, it plays a pivotal role in determining acute coronary syndromes. Coagula...

Zebrafish were used as a model to study haemostasis, a vertebrate function of paramount importance. A limitation of the zebrafish model is the difficulty in assaying small amounts of blood to detect coagulation mutants. We report the use of a rapid total coagulation activity (TCA) assay to screen for coagulation defects in individual adult zebrafish. We screened the TCA in 1000 gynogenetic half...

Cellular signaling by proteases of the blood coagulation cascade through members of the protease-activated receptor (PAR) family can profoundly impact on the inflammatory balance in sepsis. The coagulation initiation reaction on tissue factor expressing cells signals through PAR1 and PAR2, leading to enhanced inflammation. The anticoagulant protein C pathway has potent anti-inflammatory effects...

Hemostasis requires both platelets and the coagulation system. At sites of vessel injury, bleeding is minimized by the formation of a hemostatic plug consisting of platelets and fibrin. The traditional view of the regulation of blood coagulation is that the initiation phase is triggered by the extrinsic pathway, whereas amplification requires the intrinsic pathway. The extrinsic pathway consist...

Potentiation of the intrinsic pathway of human blood plasma coagulation in vitro by contact with a solid procoagulant surface leads to bolus release of thrombin (FIIa) in concentration proportion to the intensity of activation as measured by procoagulant surface area or energy (water wettability). This rather remarkable finding is confirmed using two different assays: one triggering coagulation...

The interaction between cell-surface tissue factor (TF) and the plasma coagulation factor VII (FVII) initiates the coagulation network that leads to the generation of thrombin and the formation of a fibrin clot. Thrombin also activates cellular protease activated receptors (PARs) through which it activates components of the inflammatory pathway. TF is expressed constitutively by cardiomyocytes ...

Patients with severe infections almost invariably exhibit evidence of activation of the coagulation system. The lungs are amongst the most frequently affected organs during severe infection and sepsis. The abundant presence of intravascular and extravascular fibrin appears to be a specific hallmark of acute lung injury after sepsis. Tissue factor (TF) is regarded to be the primary initiator of ...