Welcome to the homepage of the Haemostasis group at the division of Clinical Chemistry at the University Hospital in Linköping and Linköping University, Sweden.
Haemostasis research - twinning basic and clinical research
The blood flowing in our vessels is extremely important for the entire body, as a transport medium for oxygen, nutrients and cells and substances involved in the defence of the organism. To maintain the integrity of the circulatory system, it is extremely important that any damage to the system is immediately repaired. The process responsible for this is called haemostasis (from the Greek words "haemo" for blood and "stasis" for stop).
The first line of defence against bleeding is the platelets, small cells with multiple roles in the coagulation process. The platelets are surely astonishing little "creatures", with a very hot temper.
Platelet function
Platelets adhere to collagen in the damaged vessel wall through adhesion receptors. The adhesion receptors can contribute to platelet activation and thereby stimulate the release of autocrine activators such as ADP and TxA2. Upon activation the platelets are capable of forming platelet aggregates by linking to fibrinogen molecules with the GPIIb/IIIa receptor. Thrombin, produced by activation of the coagulation cascades can also activate PAR1 and PAR4 by proteolysis of the receptor.
Coagulation
Tissue factor bearing cells in the damaged vessel wall can initiate the extrinsic coagulation cascade. Small amounts of thrombin (FIIa) are produced by factor Xa which in turn will active part of the intrinsic pathway (FXIa and FXIa/FVIIIa complex) leading to a large scale production of the very effective prothrombinase (FXa/FVa) complex on the surface of activated platelets. The prothrombinase complex will generate massive amounts of thrombin (FIIa) from prothombin (FII). Thrombin cleaves off the fibrinopeptides from the fibrinogen molecule, making the molecule able to polymerize into a fibrin fibre. Finally the fibrin fibre is stabilized by the crosslinking activity of factor XIIIa.
The following pages provide information regarding group members and research areas covered by our research group, which is led by Professor Tomas L Lindahl.
We have recently moved to new laboratories, situated on floor 11 in the building “Lab 1” on Linköping University Hospital(entrance No 64), where we are working in close cooperation with the Department of Clinical Chemistry which is a part of the University Hospital. Our division is a part of the Department of Biomedicine and Surgery.