Difference in Thrombolytic Effect between Higher and Lower Molecular Weight Forms of Urokinase
Urokinase (UK) from human urine has been widely used for thrombolytic therapy in Japan. However, commercially available preparations are not identical but consist of mainly two forms of UK with higher and lower molecular weight (H-UK and L-UK) . An attempt was made in this report to compare thrombolytic activity of H-UK with that of L-UK on artificial thrombi produced from human blood by a modification of Chandler’s loop method, which was somehow comparable to the situation in vivo. Two active forms of UK were purified from crude preparation by gel filtration. The approximate molecular weight of the H-UK was 54,000 and of the L-UK 34,000. The potency of UK was determined by “two-stage lysis time method” and expressed by International unit(lU). Thrombolytic activity measured by Chandler’s method was calculated as % lysis of the control thrombus that was formed in the abscence of UK.As a result, thrombus-dissolution time of H-UK was much shorter than that of L-UK. Furthermore, concentration of H-UK (IU/ml blood) necessary to induce 50% lysis was approximately one half lower than that of L-UK. The similiar results were obtained on artificial thrombi from the blood of dog, rat and rabbit. The data suggest that H-UK seems to be more effective on treatment of thromboembolicdisorders as compared to L-UK in terms of the same IU basis.