Assay with chromogenic substrates of in vivo activated proteases.

The proteolytic enzymes of the coagulation and fibrinolysis systems as well as others such as kallikrein, activated under pathological conditions can be determined directly, without manipulations of the plasmas, with the synthetic chromogenic substrates. With these substrates it is possible to follow the protease activity in disseminated intravascular coagulation, during thrombolysis and under other conditions. The lack of absolute substrate specificity makes it imposssible to identify the activated proteases.