The effect of alloxan-induced diabetes on tissue plasminogen activator activity and plasmin inhibition in the rat

Abstract In alloxan-diabetic rats the plasminogen activator activity (PAA) showed a tissue- and time-dependent pattern of changes in key organs. In arteries of the lung, heart, and kidney, and in the intima of the aorta the PAA was markedly enhanced on the 4th day after the induction of diabetes. Thereafter, up to the 12th week post induction of diabetes, the PAA in arteries of the lung showed a gradual return to the normal, while the intima of the aorta at the nonbranching regions exhibited a fluctuation in the PAA; at the branching regions the PAA was constantly increased as it was also in the controls. In arteries of the myocardium and the kidney (particularly of the renal cortex) the PAA was impaired. In caudal vena cava the PAA was unchanged throughout experimentation. Also, no difference was noted between diabetic rats and control rats in the PAA of the epicardium, endocardium, serosa of the lung and kidney and adventitia of the aorta. Tissue plasmin inhibition showed no significant difference between diabetic rats and controls.