What Is the Function of Fibrin?

Fibrin, made from fibrinogen, is a fibrous protein that is directly involved with the clotting of the blood. The fibrous protein forms a mesh, which together with platelets, forms a plug or clot over a wound site.

Origin

• Fibrinogen, which fibrin is made from, is a water soluble plasma glycoprotein that comes from liver synthesis. Coagulation processes involving zymogen prothrombin (a coagulation protein in the blood stream) and serine protease (enzymes that cut peptide bonds in proteins) thrombin convert fibrinogen into fibrin.

Function

• Fibrin works as a binding or trapping agent in the coagulation process, which creates the mesh or clog known as a blood clot.

Effects

• If our bodies produce too much fibrin it can result in thrombosis, which is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, which in turn obstructs the flow of blood through the circulatory system. On the other hand, if we under produce fibrin, we may be predisposed to hemorrhaging.

Abnormalities

• The most familiar hereditary abnormality related to fibrin is the genetic disorder that causes hemophilia. Other less known diseases related to fibrinogen production are afibrinogenaemia, hypofibrinogenaemia, dysfibrinogenaemia, and hypodysfibrinogenaemia.

Treatments for deficiency

• For patients who are presenting a deficiency of fibrinogen and are prone to hemorrhage, bleeding can be corrected by an infusion of fresh frozen plasma, or concentrations of fibrinogen.