The catabolism of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) was investigated
after injection of radiolabelled material into rats. Both Iodogen and Chloramine T
iodination procedures yielded similar biological activity loss in the resultant labelled
rt-PA and had half lives in the rat circulation of 1 and 3 min respectively. Complex
formation of rt-PA was investigated by HPLC gel exclusion (TSK G3000 SW) fractionation
of rat plasma samples taken 1-2 min after 125I-rt-PA injection. A series of radiolabelled complexes of varying molecular weights
were found. However, 60% of the counts were associated with a single large molecular
weight complex (350–500 kDa) which was undetectable by immunologically based assays
(ELISA and BIA) and showed only low activity with a functional promoter-type t-PA
assay. Two major activity peaks in the HPLC fractions were associated with Tree t-PA
and a complex having a molecular weight of ̴ 180 kDa. HPLC fractionation to produce
these three peaks at various timed intervals after injection of 125I-rt-PA showed each to have a similar initial rate half life in the rat circulation
of 4-5 min. The function of these complexes as yet is unclear but since a high proportion
of rt-PA is associated with a high molecular weight complex with a short half life
in the rat, we suggest that the formation of this complex may be a mechanism by which
t-PA activity is initially regulated and finally cleared from the rat circulation.
Key words
Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator - Rat - Catabolic behaviour - HPLC