a. Define fibrinolysis.
b. What is the importance of this process?

Question

Accepted Answer

Welcome back everyone. What is the name of the molecule that is known as a natural clot? Buster. We have choice. A Plasmin B fibrin C plasminogen or D thrombin. Let's recall the blood coagulation process. And according to this process, this describes the transition of blood from its liquid phase to a gel phase. So that is how coagulation is defined and it's helpful to make bleeding stop when needed. Now, we're going to start with a crucial protein known as prothrombin. So, prothrombin can also be known as factor two and is produced by the liver and is an inactive protein within the coagulation process. However, it is converted to its active form with the help of the enzyme prothrombin. So this prothrombin enzyme converts prothrombin to its active form, which we would recognize as the protein thrombin and thrombin then interacts with a substance known as fibrinogen, which is a soluble blood protein. So it converts fibrinogen into fibrin and so fibrin is where we would observe an insoluble protein which is made up of a framework of mesh like structures that form a network to make the structure of a blood clot. Now, as far as regulation of the coagulation system. We should recall the process of fibrinolysis and via the tissue plasminogen activator. So, noting that down the tissue plasminogen activator recall that this is an enzyme and this enzyme is able to promote the conversion of plasminogen into plasmin where we called that plasmin is a more active form and is used to break down blood clots. So it's used to break down fibrin which composes these blood clots. And so, ultimately, fibrinolysis is essential for maintaining a healthy blood flow and preventing the formation of abnormal blood clots. Based on everything that we've outlined, we would agree that option A is the most correct choice listing plasmin as the molecular name or the name of the molecule that is known as a natural clot. Buster. We would rule out choice B fibrin because it is fibrin that composes the makeup of blood clots. And we would rule out choice c because plasminogen is the inactive precursor of plasmin. So plasminogen will will not be able to break down fibrin because it's inactive. And so that's why that conversion to plasmin is essential using the tissue plasminogen activator enzyme. And then we also can rule out choice D thrombin because as we saw thrombin is a part of the blood coagulation process, which is going to allow for the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin to create those blood clots. So that means that we are left with choice. A plasmin as the final answer I hope this made sense and let us know if you have any questions.

a. Define fibrinolysis. b. What is the importance of this process?

Verified Solution

Key Concepts

Fibrinolysis

Role in Hemostasis

Clinical Significance