Time course of fibrin and fibrinogen degradation products after ancrod treatment in all 12 subjects (mean, SD, 95th percentile).

(A) Fibrin degradation products measured by Fibrinostika FbDP ELISA. (B) Fibrinogen degradation products measured by Fibrinostika FgDP ELISA. (C) Fibrinogen-fibrin degradation products measured by Roche FDP LPIA. (D) Fibrinogen-fibrin degradation product E measured by Roche FDP-E LPIA. All fibrin(ogen) degradation product assays display a lag of 1 hour after start of ancrod infusion, followed by a rapid increase at 2 hours. This indicates that fibrin(ogen) degradation is not a process directly related to the proteolytic action of ancrod and requires a threshold concentration of soluble fibrin complexes in plasma, which may be detected by the soluble fibrin assays shown above. After reaching this soluble fibrin threshold concentration, the generation of FgDP remains constant, whereas FbDP display a steady increase in plasma concentration until 15 hours after start (equals 9 hours after the end) of ancrod infusion. Low-molecular-weight fibrin(ogen) degradation products measured in serum samples (FDP LPIA and FDP-E LPIA) display high levels between 2 and 24 hours after start of ancrod infusion.