Determination of t-PA activity and t-PA antigen in human milk.

Although a considerable number of publications on tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) in human milk have appeared, most investigators have determined t-PA activity using an assay on fibrin plates [1, 2, 3, 4]. We measured t-PA activity by a bioimmunoassay and t-PA antigen by ELISA using a monoclonal antibody (SP-322) [6], and estimated t-PA index ((t-PA activity, ng/ml)/(t-PA antigen, ng/ml) x 100) in human colostrum and milk to evaluate the fluctuations of post-delivery t-PA. The concentrations of t-PA activity decreased slowly related to the duration of lactation varying between days one and two hundred and ten and showed significant negative correlation with the duration (P less than 0.001). The t-PA antigen made a slow descent, followed by a reciprocal ascent of the t-PA index to the fifty eighth post-delivery day and showed significant correlations with the duration (P less than 0.001, P less than 0.05, respectively). This information suggests that a high concentration of t-PA may be released into the narrow channels of the glands functioning to maintain duct patency under the regulation of an inhibitor such as plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI).