[Importance of portal hypertension in the release of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA): experimental study in the rat].

Tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) activity was studied in three different experimental models of male Wistar rats; hepatic lesion without portal hypertension, portal hypertension without hepatic lesion and portal hypertension plus function liver suppression by ligation of both portal vein and hepatic artery. t-PA activity was higher in animals with portal hypertension alone than in animals with only hepatic lesion (146%). Maximal values were present in animals with functional liver suppression (1.774% vs. controls, 248% vs. hepatic lesion and 169% vs. portal hypertension only). These results suggest that both reduced hepatic t-PA clearance and portal hypertension could be involved in the increased t-PA activity normally appearing in chronic liver disease.