Observations on a Relationship between Steroid Metabolism and the Concentration of Plasma Fibrinogen^[*]

Summary

Enovid (5 mg norethynodrel and 0.075 mg ethynylestradiol-3-methyl ether) therapy in young normal human subjects causes an increase in plasma fibrinogen of 32.4% (P >C 0.001). Consideration of this effect together with other effects of Enovid on the activity of specific blood coagulatory factors suggests that the steroids are exerting their effect at a specific site of the blood coagulation and/or fibrinolytic system. The broad spectrum of changes which are induced by the steroids may be attributed to a combination of a chain reaction and feed-back control.

^* This study has been supported in part by a research grant from G. D. Searle and Co., Chicago, Illinois; the U.S. Public Health Service Grant No. H-3697, American, Iowa and Minnesota Heart Associations; the Life Insurance Medical Research Fund, and the University of Minnesota Graduate School.

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