Plasma fibronectin promotes thrombus growth and stability in injured arterioles.

ABSTRACT: Mice lacking both of the best-known platelet ligands, von Willebrand factor and fibrinogen, can still form occlusive thrombi in injured arterioles. The platelets of these animals accumulate excessive amounts of fibronectin (FN). These observations led us to examine the contribution of plasma FN (pFN) to thrombus formation. Inactivation of the FN gene in FN conditional knockout mice reduced pFN levels to <2% and platelet FN to approximately 20% of the levels in similarly treated control mice. The mice were then observed in a model of arterial injury to evaluate their capacity to form thrombi. The deficiency of pFN did not affect the initial platelet adhesion, but a delay of several minutes in thrombus formation was observed in the arterioles of pFN-deficient mice as compared with control mi

SUBMITTER: Ni H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC151355 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature