Question

You would expect people with low TPA to have difficulty due to Select one: a. breaking down clots; an excess of plasmin b. forming clots; an excess of plasmin O c. breaking down clots; a deficiency of plasmin d. forming clots; a deficiency of plasminogen e. breaking down clots; a deficiency of plasminogen

Answer 1

Tissue plasminogen activator(TPA) is a serine protease enzyme which is responsible for conversion of inactive plasminogen attached to the fibrin in the blood clot, into active plasmin. Plasmin is also a serine protease enzyme, that binds to fibrin and degrades it, thus dissolving the blood clot. Thus, TPA is responsible for dissolution of blood clot.

If a person has low level of the enzyme TPA, plasminogen conversion to plasmin will be affected, hence low concentration of plasmin will be produced which will directly affect the degradation of the blood clot, which means low TPA level will produce less plamin and hence the blood clot will not dissolve.

So from the given options, the correct option is c, as the person will face difficulty in breaking down the blood clot due to plasmin deficiency.