Liquefication of Rabbit Fibrin-Clots by Concentrated Streptococcus Fibrinolysin

From the observations of Tillett and Garner1 and Madison,2 the fibrinolysin from human strains of Streptococcus hemolyticus seems to act specifically on human plasma or fibrin-clots. Although Tillett and Garner have noted exceptional instances of slow dissolution of rabbit fibrin clots by culture of Streptococcus hemolyticus, the homologous rabbit plasma or fibrin clots are generally found to be resistant to the fibrinolysin while clots composed of human and rabbit heterologous fibrinogen-thrombin complexes are readily liquefied by it. The mechanism responsible for the resistance of the homologous rabbit fibrin-clots to action of the fibrinolysin is still unexplained. In an attempt to throw some light on this point, the present experiment was carried out with the use of concentrated streptococcus fibrinolysin.Six strains of Streptococcus hemolyticus, isolated from sore throat and scarlet fever cases, were used for production of fibrinolysin. Sixteen hours growth of the culture in meat-infusion broth (init...