Dermatan sulphate induces plasminogen activator release in the perfused rat hindquarters.

Heparin or heparin-like substances have been described to induce the release of plasminogen activator (PA) activity in different animal perfusion models. In this paper we report that Dermatan Sulphate (DS) is able to induce PA activity release in the perfused rat hindquarters. Perfusion of different doses of DS (0.1 to 0.8 mg/mL) stimulates a release of PA activity that is maximum after the initial two minutes of perfusion. The amount of PA activity released rises progressively within a certain concentration range of DS (0.1 to 0.4 mg/mL) and declines thereafter (0.6 to 0.8 mg/mL). The type of PA activity increased during DS perfusion was characterized by SDS-PAGE and fibrin autography as tissue-type PA (t-PA) on the basis of its mol wt (67,000 d) and inhibition by a specific anti t-PA antiserum. This effect might be considered as potentially contributing to the antithrombotic activity of DS, at least at the local level.