Natural Degradation or Clearance
Unfractionated heparin has a half-life of approximately one to two hours after infusion, whereas low-molecular-weight heparin has a half-life that is about four times longer. Lower doses of heparin have a much shorter half-life than larger doses of heparin. Heparin binding to macrophage cells is internalized and depolymerized by the macrophages. Heparin also rapidly binds to endothelial cells, which precludes the binding to antithrombin that results in anticoagulant action. For higher doses of heparin, endothelial cell binding will be saturated, such that clearance of heparin from the bloodstream by the kidneys will be a slower process.
Read more about this topic: Heparin
Famous quotes containing the words natural and/or degradation:
“Many people operate under the assumption that since parenting is a natural adult function, we should instinctively know how to do it—and do it well. The truth is, effective parenting requires study and practice like any other skilled profession. Who would even consider turning an untrained surgeon loose in an operating room? Yet we “operate” on our children every day.”
—Louise Hart (20th century)
“We found nothing grand in the history of the Jews nor in the morals inculcated in the Pentateuch.... I know of no other books that so fully teach the subjection and degradation of woman.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)