Association between tissue plasminogen activator and serum lipids in healthy volunteers.

The statistical association between tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) activity, antigen, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) antigen and lipids levels in blood samples used for medical check ups in 111 volunteers attending hospital for health examinations was examined. The t-PA activity level of 111 volunteers was 0.08-0.56 ng/ml (5% trimmed range) (normal range: 0.08-0.70 ng/ml); t-PA antigen concentrations were 2.4-9.2 ng/ml (normal range: 1.0-7.0 ng/ml); PAI-1 antigen concentrations were 5.2-57.4 ng/ml (normal range: 5.2-45.0 ng/ml). The volunteers with the lowest t-PA activity in blood (group E) had higher concentrations of serum total cholesterol (P less than 0.001), triglycerides (P less than 0.001), or t-PA antigen (P less than 0.001) and lower concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P less than 0.001) than those having normal serum lipids and t-PA activity level (group A). These results show that t-PA activity, antigen and PAI-1 antigen in blood obtained from the healthy volunteers are influenced significantly by the concentrations of lipids in blood.