Summary
We studied the profibrinolytic effect and the anti-thrombotic potential of retinoic
acid in-vivo. Male Wistar rats were treated with retinoic acid either acutely or twice
daily for a period of 5 consecutive days in a dose range of 0.01 to 3.0 mg/kg. Fibrinolytic
activity was measured ex-vivo using the diluted blood clot lysis test and net t-PA
activity in tissue extracts was measured in a spectrophotometric rate assay. Clot
lysis was dose dependently increased by retinoic acid up to about 170% (relative to
vehicle treated rats) at a dose of 3 mg/kg. No tachyphylaxis could be detected. Ex-vivo
measured fibrinolytic activity after single administration of 1 mg/kg of retinoic
acid peaked at 3 h after ingestion. Even after 18 h a significantly higher clot lysis
rate was measured. Lysis of blood clots from vehicle and retinoic acid treated rats
could be completely blocked by addition of tranexamic acid or antibodies against rat
t-PA before clot formation. t-PA activity in plasma was slightly increased after retinoic
acid treatment; no effects were measured on plasma PAI-1, u-PA, plasminogen, and α2-antiplasmin levels. t-PA activity in lung and kidney was marginally enhanced by retinoic
acid but in heart and aortic tissue extracts t-PA activity was increased by about
50%. We confirmed this potential anti-thrombotic property in an in-vivo venous thrombosis
model. A reduced clot size was observed after retinoic acid administration (35% reduction
at a dose of 1 mg/kg). We could not detect any effect on ex-vivo measured platelet
aggregation, bleeding time, prothrombin time, thrombin time, partial thromboplastin
time or plasma fibrinogen level, indicating that there were no effects on platelet
aggregation or blood coagulation. We conclude that retinoic acid enhanced fibrinolytic
activity in-vivo by selectively enhancing t-PA activity and that retinoic acid is
a potential anti-thrombotic agent in-vivo.