[Electron microscopy study of fibrin self-assembly].

The process of fibrin selfassembly has been examined by electron microscopy. Its initial stage is found to consist in fibrin monomer conversion to thin filaments of random shape, probably identical with the well known intermediate polymers of fibrin. When the filaments attain an appropriate size they arrange themselfs into bundles with increasingly ordered structure. At this stage a tendency to form cross bands appears. The cross-band system develops on the basis of substance redistribution within fibrin molecules incorporated into filamentous bundles. It seems hardly warranted to call the complicated process of fibrin fibre formation as "selfassembly". This process represents a "molecular morphopoesis" and includes: selfassembly of filaments; selfassembly of bundles and transformation leading to the establishment of the ultimate fibril structure.