Synthesis of α2-antiplasmin by rat liver cells

Abstract Rat hepatocytes were grown in primary culture in the presence of 35 S-methionine. Immunoprecipitation of the culture medium with monospecific rabbit anti-rat α 2 -antiplasmin IgG with subsequent electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and autoradiography gave one strong radioactivity band, molecular weight ∼79.000, that was unaffected by reduction. Addition of human plasmin abolished this band and a new band, probably representing a plasmin- α 2 -antiplasmin complex, with a M r of ∼141.000, appeared instead. It is concluded that rat hepatocytes synthesize and secrete α 2 -antiplasmin.