Abstract
At the last meeting, we reported that the arginase activity in erythrocyte in cases of cerebral and myocardial infarctions showed lower values than that of cerebral bleeding and in normal cases.
In this meeting, we discussed whether the erythrocyte arginase is involved in the inhibition of thrombosis in vivo or not. Erythrocyte ghosts of rabbits were prepared, and the purified arginase was enclosed in them by dialysis methods. The arginase-loaded erythrocytes were transfused back to the same rabbit, in which arachidonic acid (2mg/kg) was injected into the carotid artery after 30min. to induce experimental thrombi, and the presence of thrombosis was examined microscopically.
Next rabbits were given the arginase per as and the effect of oral administration of the arginase on platelet aggregation were observed.
It has been demonstrated that the arginase inhibits the formation of thrombus induced by arachidonic acid due to increasing its concentration in the erythrocyte. The arginase inhibited ADP induced platelet aggregation strongly with its oral administration.
Consequently, it was concluded that the arginase in the erythrocyte has an important role for the inhibition of thrombus formation.
