Background: Previous animal studies by us and others have indicated that catheter-administered plasmin or its des-kringle derivatives may be more appropriate alternatives to plasminogen activators for treating thrombolytic diseases, since it has a very short serum half-life and therefore does not result in hemorrhaging. We have previously produced recombinant miniPlasmin (mPlasmin) that was proven suitable for treating peripheral arterial occlusion in animal models. However, our previous results showed that non-specific cleavage at position K698 of mPlasmin during activation hindered the further development of this promising therapeutic candidate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The compressive loads produced in the medial compartment of a rabbit knee during hopping are unknown, and necessary for the development of an animal model to study unicompartmental osteoarthritis.
Methods: In an effort to obtain such data, a surgical procedure was developed to insert a pressure sensor into the medial tibial compartment of a New Zealand white rabbit knee joint, and an inactive sensor of the same thickness into the lateral tibial compartment. After the rabbits recovered from anesthesia, contact pressure was measured as the rabbits hopped.