Simple hemorrhage induces tissue factor mRNA in the liver.

Thrombogenic responses are sometimes seen after a large hemorrhage, but the precise mechanisms whereby this phenomenon occurs still remain unknown. We recently showed that plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 rises after a 20-ml/kg hemorrhage in rats and suggested that this change may be one of the contributing factors to the thrombogenic responses after a large hemorrhage. In this study, we set out to detect the changes on the coagulation side, that is, the changes in whole blood clotting time and the mRNA of tissue factor (TF), which is the primary initiator of the clotting cascade. The rats were all bled (20 ml/kg) 3 days after cannulation. The whole blood clotting time was measured by the Lee-White method. Changes in the TF mRNA were detected in the liver by high-performance liquid chromatography after reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction using glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase as an external standard. A 20-ml/kg hemorrhage significantly shortened the whole blood clotting time and significantly increased the TF mRNA in the liver at 1, 2, and 4h in comparison to the nonhemorrhage controls. These results indicate that a simple hemorrhage without tissue trauma can induce hypercoagulability and suggest that the induction of TF might be involved in this phenomenon.