Human, Cow and Rabbit Native Fibrin Powders as Anticoagulants

Abstract

THE anticoagulant action of fibrin-coated surfaces on native blood and plasma has been demonstrated recently^1,2. Since the fibrin-coating process is quite laborious³, we tested the anti-coagulant effect of a fibrin surface by simply placing native plasma in contact with fibrin powder. It was realized that the contact of native plasma with surfaces foreign to blood known to initiate coagulation, such as glass, would have to be counteracted by a large enough fibrin surface. In a preceding investigation by Copley and Cliffton⁴ so-called fraction I fibrin powder, prepared from a Cohn fraction I of bovine plasma by the addition of thrombin, was found to have an anti-coagulant action similar to that observed in glass tubes coated with bovine fraction I fibrin. Since the bovine fibrinogen (Armour) contains 40–50 per cent sodium citrate, it was not clear whether the latter was responsible for the anticoagulant effect of the fraction I fibrin powder. Therefore, work has been done on native plasma fibrin powder, prepared from native plasma without the addition of anticoagulants or coagulants.