A molecular variant of plasminogen activator inhibitor of rat decidual tissue.

Artificially induced rat decidual tissue expresses plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI). This PAI, isolated and purified employing chromatographic techniques, is a low molecular weight protein unlike the known PAIs. The final purified preparation resolves into a single band following SDS-PAGE and has an approximate molecular weight of 29 kDa. The properties studied include specificity for urokinase-type (uPA) and tissue-type (tPA) plasminogen activators, binding to conA and heparin, inhibition of thrombin, plasmin and trypsin. Decidual PAI is immunogenic in rabbit and a monospecific antiserum raised against the decidual inhibitor cross reacts with an extract of human placenta.