Plasma levels of coagulation factor XIII determined quantitatively were found to have a tendency to be decreased in more severely affected cases of acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis and Henoch-Schönlein nephritis, and found to be decreased in patients with rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis and chronic renal failure in comparison with normal controls. It seems that the degree of decrease in factor XIII reflects the intensity of glomerular damage. In contrast, the patients with the nephrotic syndrome showed significant elevation of plasma factor XIII levels and it was closely correlated with the increase in serum triglycerides. The elevation of factor XIII levels in the nephrotic syndrome is suggested to be mainly attributed to enhanced protein synthesis in connection with urinary loss of proteins.

Fibrinogen fragments (X, Y, D and E) and fibrin fragments (D-dimer and E) were examined in the urine of 52 patients with various types of renal diseases. One or more of the fibrinogen fragments were detectable in all the urine specimens. D-Dimer together with fibrinogen fragments was found in 38 of the 52 patients. The clearance ratio of D-dimer to IgG, which indicates D-dimer generated in the kidney, was lower than 1 in all the patients with the minimal changes nephrotic syndrome, and was greater than 1 in the majority of patients with acute glomerulonephritis, rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. Our results suggest that urinary fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) in renal diseases are derived primarily from increased filtration of FDP from the plasma through a damaged glomerular basement membrane, and that the mechanism of lysis of cross-linked fibrin deposited in the glomeruli occurs simultaneously in some types of glomerulonephritis. It seems that the determination of the clearance ratio of D-dimer to IgG may be useful in assessing the activation of the coagulation and fibrinolysis systems in the kidney in patients with renal diseases.

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