Measurement of clottability of fibrin polymers using magnetic orientation

Abstract

Fibrin polymers, as a kind of diamagnetic material, are oriented parallel to the direction of magnetic fields. We investigated the polymerization of partially digested fibrinogens in an 8 T magnetic field in order to observe the clotting ability of various sizes of fibrinogen fractions using a magnetic orientation technique. We purified high-molecular weight fraction (F1) and low-molecular weight fraction from human fibrinogen (F2). Fibrin gels were formed in an 8 T magnetic field for 9 h, and transmittancies were measured to evaluate the degree of magnetic orientation. The results show that a lack at the C-terminal half of one Aα chain did not affect the magnetic orientation of fibrin. We also investigated the effect of the digestion of fibrinogen by plasmin on the magnetic orientation of fibrin. The result shows that partially digested fibrin molecules also orient in an 8 T magnetic field. However, the degree of magnetic orientation significantly decreases when fragment X and fragment Y appear.