Mechanisms involved in regulation of blood coagulation: history of research and perspectives

Abstract

Blood clotting is the most important physiological response in the body to disruption to vascular structure or vessel wall abnormalities. This process is non-stationary, involving many not fully established mechanisms of spatial regulation, and an understanding of this process is essential for the prevention of a large number of life-threatening conditions. This review is focused on investigations into the research of blood clotting processes by a team of biophysicists, alumni and employees of the Biophysics Department of the Faculty of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, who created one of the leading Russian scientific schools for experimental and theoretical approaches to the study of the hemostasis system. The review describes the main directions of research, which included many diverse aspects of the problem - from the development of theoretical models of blood coagulation to the development and clinical studies of new methods for assessing the state of the hemostasis system.