Anticoagulant Action of Fibrin Surfaces on Mammalian Blood

Abstract

MANY foreign surfaces have been studied in contact with blood in efforts to find out whether they might act as physical anticoagulant agents. Recently, a blood-born surface made of fibrin has been introduced in our laboratory in a number of hæmorheological studies, based on a concept of one of us (A. L. C.) which proposes that an endo-endothelial fibrin film is being formed and maintained throughout life in all blood vessels¹. These studies demonstrated that the apparent viscosity and wall adherence are markedly decreased in blood in contact with fibrin surface when compared with different foreign surfaces, suggesting that, physiologically, the endo-endothelial fibrin film may constitute a major factor in aiding circulation, for example, by increasing the velocity of flow of blood^2,3. We therefore undertook a comparative study of the coagulation of undiluted native blood in contact with fibrin and foreign surfaces and an account of the unexpected results is presented.