The role of factor XIII in fibroblast proliferation.

Fibrin stabilizing factor, Factor XIII (F-XIII), which is a transamidating enzyme for fibrin crosslinking, is required for wound healing or fibroblast proliferation. Two know whether or not the enzyme reacts directly to the cell surface, the 3T6 fibroblasts were cultured on fibrin which is natural matrix for the proliferation. Poor-crosslinked and crosslinked fibrin plates were prepared by human plasma clotting with or without the F-XIII inhibitors. In 48 hours culture, the seeded 3 X 10(4) cells were grown to 10.2 X 10(4) on the crosslinked fibrin but only to 3.8 X 10(4) on the poor-crosslinked fibrin plate on the average. The effect of an antifibrinolytic agent, epsilon-aminocaptroic acid was also checked. Consequently, the crosslinking of fibrin seemed to be essential to provide it with favorable property as the contact surface for the growth.