Modeling of the fibrin agarose plate assay and its application for thrombolytic analysis

Abstract

The fibrin agarose plate assay is widely used in the detection of thrombolysis efficacy. However, a rigorous mathematical model for analyzing data or comparing activities of different thrombolytics has been absent. This study investigated the relationship between thrombolysis radius, R, and diffusion time, t, of molecular medicines in an agarose hydrogel system by deriving a model based on Fick's law and experimental verification by the fibrin agarose plate assay method. The theoretical results showed that a plot of log(R) versus log(t) has a linear curve with the slope of 1/2 and this was verified by experimental results using urokinase as a modeling agent. Moreover, it was found that R/√t is constant for a specific thrombolytic and can be used as a parameter for evaluating activities of different thrombolytics. The theoretical model has potential for improving the understanding of mechanisms involved in molecular medicine diffusion and offers benefits for thrombolytic therapy. © 2012 The Author(s).