Effect of a preparation of medical leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) on phagocytosis and the complement system

Except such known inhibitors of proteolytic enzymes, as hirudin, bdellins and eglins, and also hyaluronidase enzyme, by us in a secretion of salivary glands of medical leeches the new enzyme destabilase which breaks isopeptide bonds in stabilized fibrin and having thrombolytic action, inhibitor of blood plasma kallikrein and prostanoids, on a spectrum of action similar to prostacycline and its stable analogues have been found. We show that the secret of leeches irrespective of presence in it hirudin suppresses platelet-vascular hemostasis, interfering adhesion of platelets on a surface of collagen and the aggregation of the platelets stimulated by inductors of various nature, by activation of adenylate cyclase of membranes of platelets [3]. Irrespective of the presence of hirudin, the secret blocks the contact stage of the internal mechanism of blood coagulation by inhibiting blood plasma kallikrein and Hagemann factor.