Rheological properties of fibrin clots. Effects of fibrinogen concentration, Factor XIII deficiency, and Factor XIII inhibition

The effect of fibrinogen concentration, Factor XIII deficiency, and Factor XIII inhibition, utilizing hydroxylamine, on the formation of clot structure in vitro was studied in human platelet-free plasma systems. Rheological and biochemical techniques were employed to relate changes in clot elasticity and viscosity to clot structure formation following recalcification of citrate anticoagulated samples. Classical theories of linear viscoelasticity for swollen crosslinked materials were shown to give an excellent estimate of the number of covalent crosslinks per fibrin monomer, which is directly attainable from rheological data. SDS gel electrophoresis was utilized to show qualitatively that decreases in maximum clot elasticity, at constant fibrinogen concentration, are directly related to a decrease in Factor XIII-mediated intermolecular crosslinking. The use of the technique to investigate both kinetic and equilibrium crosslinking (or structure formation) abnormalities in plasma systems is discussed.