ABSTRACT
Diabetes mellitus is a chrome condition characterized by the presence of fasting hyperglycemia and the development of vascular complications. The pathogenesis of the vascular complications of diabetes is not entirely clear, although evidence from the recently presented Diabetes, Control and Complications Trial indicates quite unequivocally that improved metabolic control in diabetic patients leads to a reduction in the incidence of microvascular complications. The principal role of the fibrinolytic system is the breakdown and removal of intravascular fibrin and thrombus, permitting unimpeded vascular blood flow, and of extravascular fibrin in wounds and inflammatory exudates. The numerous metabolic and biochemical consequences of diabetes mellitus offer a number of candidate factors that may influence the development of suppression of fibrinolysis. The hydrolysis of deposited fibrin by plasmin occurs specifically at peptide bonds containing lysine or arginine residues. Glycosylation reduces the susceptibility of fibrin to lysis by plasmin, probably by competing for the active site of hydrolysis.
