Fibrin/agar films were prepared and used to detect plasminogen activators produced by cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells (fibrin autography). One preparation of fibrin underwent spontaneous lysis upon incubation at 37TC. This lysis was prevented by antibodies to tissue-type plasminogen activator but not by antibodies to urokinase. Conditioned medium from the confluent endothelial cells was fractionated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of NaDodSO4. The gels were analyzed on indicator films prepared with the spontaneously lysing fibrin (reverse fibrin autography). Unexpectedly, as the opaque fibrin film cleared, a distinct lysis-resistant zone appeared in the indicator gel at a region corresponding to Mr 55,000. Experiments were devised to determine whether the lysis-resistant zone in the indicator film reflected the presence of a cellular inhibitor in the polyacrylamide gel. The corresponding region was excised from a polyacrylamide gel, extracted with buffer, and tested directly for antifibrinolytic activity by the 'lS-labeled fibrin plate method. Urokinase-mediated fibrinolytic activity was inhibited by the gel extract in a dose-dependent manner indicating the presence of such an inhibitor. Inhibitor activity was detected in Triton X-100 extracts of washed monolayers and in conditioned medium, where it accumulated with time. The endothelial cell inhibitor not only survived exposure to NaDodSO4 but also was active after incubation at pH 12 or treatment with 5% (vol/vol) 2-mercaptoethanol, 6 M urea, 4 M guanidine hydrochloride, or 1 M acetic acid. Considerable activity also remained after heating at 1000C for 30 min. These results indicate that cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells synthesize and secrete a previously undetected, unusually stable fibrinolytic inhibitor of Mr 55,000. Reverse fibrin autography offers a convenient approach for studying such molecules.The production of both urokinase-like and tissue-type plasminogen activators (PAs) by cultured endothelial cells (1) emphasizes the potential role of endothelium in the specific catabolism of locally deposited fibrin and in the general maintenance of blood vessel patency. Expression of these cellular activities should be regulated precisely to ensure that the normal hemostatic role of endothelium (2) is not compromised.Plasma contains a number of molecules that may function in this way by either promoting (3, 4) or inhibiting (5) endothelial cell-mediated fibrinolysis. In addition, cultured rabbit (6, 7) and human (8-11) endothelial cells were found to be associated with an antifibrinolytic activity, suggesting that endothelium itself also may produce molecules that modulate the fibrinolytic activity of the vessel wall. However, no such inhibitor activity has been detected in confluent bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEs) (9,12).We have used cultured i3AEs as a model to identify factors that influence the overall fibrinolytic activity of endothelium (13). Cellular fibrinolytic activity was found to change with the...