Evidence for Abnormalities in Clotting and Thrombolysis as a Risk Factor for Stroke • Four hundred six patients with ischemic thrombotic cerebrovascular disease (ITCVD) and 115 age-matched controls were studied to select risk factors which would identify ITCVD-prone individuals from a healthy population. The following factors were evaluated: soluble fibrin, plasminogen, plasminogen activator, f...

A fibrinolytic protease was purified from an Oriental medicinal herb, Spirodela polyrhiza (Choi, H. S., et al., Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., 65, 781-786 (2001)). The protease hydrolyzed not only fibrin but also fibrinogen. The enzyme had an anticoagulant activity measured with activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time, and prothrombin time in rat plasma. It doubled all three at 69, ...