Alteplase

It is a single chain recombinant tissue plasminogen activator.


Production:
Initially, produced from cultured melanoma cells taken from humans and now it is obtained with recombination technology.

Mechanism of action:
It is fibrin selective or clot selective.

It gets bind more strongly to plasminogen, which is bound to fibrin in thrombus or hemostatic plug, causing its activation.

Due to fibrin selectivity its low dosage has very less effect on other proteins.

Therapeutic uses:
It is effective in large type of pulmonary embolism. It is also used for myocardial infarction and acute ischemic stroke. Therapy must be started within 3 hours of stroke symptoms.

It has better ability to dissolve chronic type of clots.

Pharmacokinetics:
Its half life is 5 minutes.

Dosage:
It is administered as 100 mg dose in which 10 mg is given quickly by IV injection and the remaining is given in 90 minutes (1mg/minute).

Adverse effects:
It may cause hemorrhage.