GONADAL INFLUENCES ON PLASMA FIBRIN AND FIBRINOLYTIC ACTIVITY: A POSSIBLE BASIS FOR THE FURTHER ANALYSIS OF SOME FORMS OF CORONARY THROMBOSIS

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Abstract
Analysis of plasma fibrin and fibrinolytic capacity in normal and gonadectomized male and female rats revealed male plasma fibrin to be statistically higher in malesthan in females, this difference being eliminated by gonadectomy due to elevation of fibrin after ovariectomy and the absence of change after orchidectomy. Fibrinolytic activity of plasma is the same in males and females under basal conditions, but is depressed by orchidectomy; it is especially low three hours after a fatty meal—but only in normal males. On the basis of these findings an hypothesis is outlined to account for the higher incidence of coronary occlusion in males according to which the already susceptible males (withhigher plasma fibrin) become even more susceptible to fibrin deposits when their plasma fibrinolytic capacity is markedly depressed after fatty meals with consequent diminished capacity to lyse fibrin deposits which may form in previously rigid and stenosed coronary arteries.