Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2007;27:1231-1237
Published online before print March 22, 2007,
doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.107.140046
(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2007;27:1231.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.
Vascular Functions of the Plasminogen Activation System
William P. Fay;
Nadish Garg;
Madhavi Sunkar
From Departments of Internal Medicine and Medical Pharmacology & Physiology, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, Mo, and the Research Service, Harry S. Truman Veterans Affairs Hospital, Columbia, Mo.
Correspondence to William P. Fay, MD, University of Missouri, MC314 McHaney Hall, One Hospital Drive DC095.00, Columbia, MO 65212. E-mail fayw{at}missouri.edu
Series Editor: David T. Eitzman
Regulation of Hemostasis and Thrombosis: Insights From Murine Models
ATVB In Focus
Previous Brief Reviews in this Series:
Tollefsen DM. Heparin cofactor II modulates the response to vascular injury. 2007;27:454–460.
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Abstract
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The plasminogen activator (PA) system, which controls the formation
and activity of plasmin, plays a key role in modulating hemostasis,
thrombosis, and several other biological processes. While a
great deal is known about the function of the PA system, it
remains a focus of intensive investigation, and the list of
biological pathways and human diseases that are modulated by
normal and pathologic function of its components continues to
lengthen. Because of remarkable advances in molecular genetics,
the laboratory mouse has become the most useful animal system
to study the normal and pathologic functions of the PA system.
The purpose of this review is to summarize studies that have
used genetically modified mice to examine the functions of the
PA system in hemostasis and thrombosis, intimal hyperplasia
after vascular injury, and atherosclerosis. Particular emphasis
is placed on the vascular functions of PA inhibitor-1, a key
regulator of the PA system, and the multiple variables that
appear to account for the complex role of PA inhibitor-1 in
regulating vascular remodeling. Lastly, the strengths and limitations
of using mice to model human vascular disease processes are
discussed.
The plasminogen activator (PA) system plays key roles in modulating fibrinolysis, vascular remodeling, and atherosclerosis development. This article reviews the use of murine models to elucidate the in vivo functions of the PA system and the roles of specific PA system components in pathologic vascular processes.
Key Words: atherosclerosis fibrinolysis mouse plasminogen vascular remodeling
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Introduction
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The central reaction of the plasminogen activator (PA) system
is the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin by PAs (
Figure 1).
Plasmin, a serine protease, degrades fibrin to fibrin degradation
products. However, plasmin has several substrates other than
fibrin, including blood coagulation factors, cell surface receptors,
metalloproteinases, and structural components of the extracellular
matrix.
1,2 Therefore, plasminogen activation is a key reaction
not only for fibrinolysis but also for a variety of biological
processes, particularly those involving cell adhesion and migration.
3,4 While plasminogen resides primarily within the plasma, with
the liver representing the primary site of plasminogen synthesis,
plasminogen mRNA is present in several mouse tissues, including
adrenal, kidney, brain, testis, heart, lung, uterus, spleen,
thymus, and gut, supporting a broadly distributed functional
role of the PA system.
5 Tissue-type PA (t-PA) and urinary-type
PA (u-PA), the 2 main mammalian PAs, activate plasminogen by
cleaving a specific Arg-Val peptide bond located within the
protease domain. The activation of plasminogen by t-PA is highly
dependent on the presence of cofactors, such as fibrin, that
bind and alter the conformation of plasminogen.
6 Plasmin formation
is intensely regulated by PA inhibitors, which inhibit t-PA
and u-PA, most notably PA inhibitor-1 (PAI-1).
7 Plasmin is directly
inhibited by
2-antiplasmin, which circulates in plasma. Several
bacterial species secrete PAs, such as streptokinase and staphylokinase,
that promote bacterial cell migration and invasion of host tissues
by supporting bacterial–cell-associated plasmin formation.
8–10 In contrast to mammalian PAs, streptokinase and staphylokinase
are not enzymes. Rather, these factors bind plasminogen or plasmin
to form activator complexes that convert substrate plasminogen
molecules to plasmin.
11,12

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Figure 1. Plasminogen activation system. The central reaction of the plasminogen activation system is the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin by t-PA and u-PA, streptokinase, or staphylokinase. Plasmin degrades fibrin to fibrin degradation products. Inhibitory actions of PAI-1, 2-antiplasmin, and TAFI on fibrinolysis are denoted by dotted arrows.
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Clot lysis depends on binding of plasminogen to the clot surface. Plasminogen binds to lysine residues within fibrin via lysine-binding sites contained in plasminogens kringle domains.2 As plasmin cleaves fibrin by hydrolysis of peptide bonds adjacent to lysine residues, C-terminal lysine residues are generated, to which plasminogen binds with higher affinity than to internal lysine residues, which further accelerates fibrinolysis by promoting plasminogen binding to the dissolving clot. Thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI), which circulates in plasma as a zymogen and is activated proteolytically by thrombin, is a basic carboxypeptidase that cleaves C-terminal lysine residues from fibrin.13 Consequently, activated TAFI inhibits fibrinolysis by inhibiting binding of plasminogen to the partially degraded fibrin surface. Because of its activation by thrombin, TAFI constitutes a major site of cross-talk between the blood coagulation and fibrinolysis systems.14 Not only does TAFI allow thrombin to modulate fibrinolysis but also it provides a mechanism by which deficient or excessive thrombin generation, resulting from, for example, hemophilia, protein C deficiency, or factor VLeiden, may contribute to pathologic bleeding or thrombosis, ie, by upregulating or downregulating TAFI activation and fibrinolysis.15,16
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Comparison of Murine and Human Fibrinolytic Systems
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Lijnen et al
17 performed an interesting and important study
in which they purified the main components of the mouse fibrinolytic
system and studied their function in vitro in autologous and
heterologous biochemical and clot lysis assays involving mouse
and human fibrinolytic components. While the biochemical characteristics
of individual components of the PA system are largely overlapping
between mice and humans, there are important differences. Most
significantly, the murine plasma fibrinolytic system is more
resistant to activation (ie, the generation of plasmin activity)
than the human system, which appears to be mediated by a relative
resistance of murine plasminogen to activation by murine t-PA
and a shorter plasma half-life of murine t-PA than that of human
t-PA attributable to apparent inhibition of mouse t-PA by plasma
inhibitors other than PAI-1. In regards to cross-species interactions
of fibrinolytic components, murine plasminogen is activated
much more slowly by human t-PA than by murine t-PA. This issue
is important in regards to interpretation of studies involving
administration of recombinant human t-PA to mice, eg, in studies
of pharmacological thrombolysis.
18 The concentration of some
components of the PA system in specific biologic compartments
can differ between mice and humans. For example, the concentration
of PAI-1 in mouse platelets is markedly lower than its concentration
in human platelets.
19–22 On the whole, the differences
between the human and murine PA systems are minor, but must
be kept in mind when designing and interpreting specific experiments.
It is also important to note that the human PA system has some
differences not only from the murine PA system but also from
those of other animals used in laboratory research, such as
the rat, rabbit, dog, and pig.
23
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Insights Into Regulation of Intravascular Fibrinolysis From Murine Knockout Models
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Complete fibrinogen deficiency results in spontaneous bleeding
in mice, although the severity of the bleeding defect varies
in different mouse strains.
24 Complete plasminogen deficiency
leads to severe generalized thrombosis in mice,
25,26 which demonstrates
the critical role of plasminogen in fibrin homeostasis. Mice
completely lacking t-PA exhibit delayed clearance of intravascular
fibrin after vascular injury compared with wild-type mice.
27,28 One murine study found that u-PA knockout mice do not differ
from wild-type mice in regard to intravascular fibrin clearance
within the first 3 days after vascular injury, supporting the
concept that t-PA, rather than u-PA, plays the dominant role
in regulating intravascular fibrinolysis in the acute phase
of vascular injury.
27 However, another murine study found that
u-PA–deficient mice exhibit delayed clearance of intravascular
fibrin at 3 weeks after arterial injury, and that the defect
of fibrin clearance in u-PA–deficient mice was more pronounced
than that of t-PA–deficient mice,
28 suggesting that u-PA
expression by cells, such as macrophages, which invade thrombi,
plays an important role in mediating delayed fibrin clearance
from the intravascular compartment. Mice completely lacking
PAI-1 exhibit delayed thrombus formation and accelerated thrombolysis
after vascular injury, underscoring the key role of PAI-1 in
regulating intravascular fibrin turnover.
21,22,27,29–31 Homozygous
2-antiplasmin–deficient mice do not exhibit
abnormal bleeding, but do demonstrate diminished thrombosis
after vascular injury and accelerated lysis of experimental
pulmonary emboli.
32,33 These results suggest that the main in
vivo function of
2-antiplasmin is to regulate circulating plasmin
activity and intravascular fibrinolysis. Dewerchin et al studied
mice with combined deficiency of PAI-1 and
2-antiplasmin in
several bleeding and thrombosis models and compared double-deficient
mice to mice with isolated deficiency of each factor to study
the relative roles of these inhibitors in regulating fibrinolysis
in vivo.
34 Their results suggested that the higher endogenous
fibrinolytic capacity observed in mice with combined PAI-1 and
2-antiplasmin deficiency is mainly caused by the lack of
2-antiplasmin,
whereas PAI-1 plays a less important role in controlling intravascular
fibrin turnover. Initial mouse studies suggested that TAFI deficiency,
which would be hypothesized to downregulate thrombosis (because
of upregulated fibrinolysis), had no effect of clot formation
after either arterial or venous injury.
35 However, TAFI-deficient
mice exhibit accelerated fibrinolysis in pulmonary embolism
models,
36,37 and potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor, which inhibits
activated TAFI, decreases thrombus formation in the inferior
vena cava of mice after ferric chloride injury.
38 Therefore,
TAFI can modulate endogenously mediated fibrin clearance in
vivo. While blood coagulation and fibrinolysis are usually considered
as distinct enzymatic pathways that intersect at the level of
fibrin, several studies involving genetically modified mice
have demonstrated the interconnected function of the blood clotting
and lysis pathways. For example, mice expressing the murine
homologue of factor V
Leiden demonstrate dampened fibrinolysis,
which appears to be mediated by enhanced thrombin formation
and TAFI activation.
16
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Role of PA System in Controlling Intimal Hyperplasia After Vascular Injury
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In addition to functioning within the vascular lumen to control
fibrinolysis, the PA system is active within the blood vessel
wall, where it plays an important role in controlling vascular
remodeling. The development of intimal hyperplasia after vascular
injury is diminished in plasminogen-deficient mice, supporting
the concept that plasmin associated with vascular smooth muscle
cells (VSMCs) enhances cell migration by fostering extracellular
matrix degradation, either directly or indirectly by activating
matrix metalloproteinases.
39,40 VSMCs express u-PA and its receptor
(
Figure 2). Urokinase (u-PA) deficiency and pharmacological
inhibition of u-PA receptor, but not t-PA deficiency, inhibit
neointima formation in mice, suggesting that u-PA–triggered
plasmin formation drives VSMC migration.
28,41,42 Murine studies
examining the role of PAI-1 in the development of intimal hyperplasia
after vascular injury in mice with normal lipid metabolism have
not yielded concordant results. Some studies found that endogenous
PAI-1 expression promotes neointima formation after vascular
injury,
43,44 others concluded that endogenous PAI-1 inhibits
neointima formation,
45–47 and one study found no effect
of PAI-1 on neointima formation.
48 Two studies examined the
role PAI-1 in promoting intimal hyperplasia in hyperlipidemic
mice, induced by FeCl
3-induced injury of the common carotid
artery, with both studies finding that PAI-1 promoted intimal
hyperplasia.
22,49 PAI-1 has the potential to modulate neointima
formation by multiple mechanisms. By stabilizing intravascular
fibrin, which often forms in response to vascular injury and
which can be invaded by VSMCs and other cell types to form a
neointima, PAI-1 may promote intimal hyperplasia.
7 Consistent
with this hypothesis, hyperfibrinogenemic mice exhibit enhanced
neointima formation after carotid artery ligation compared with
wild-type mice,
50 and depletion of plasma fibrinogen by administration
of ancrod reduces intimal hyperplasia in mice after carotid
artery ligation.
51 However,
2-antiplasmin deficiency, which
promotes fibrinolysis in vivo,
32 has no effect on neointima
formation in mice,
52 suggesting that stabilization of fibrin
by PAI-1 and/or
2-antiplasmin does not play an essential role
in murine vascular remodeling. PAI-1 promotes VSMC proliferation
and inhibits apoptosis,
53,54 which could promote neointima formation.
PAI-1 may reduce neointima formation by: (1) inhibiting u-PA
and, consequently, cell-associated plasmin formation; and (2)
binding to extracellular matrix vitronectin (
Figure 3). The
binding domain on vitronectin for PAI-1 overlaps with the binding
domains on vitronectin for vitronectin receptors present on
VSMC, ie,
Vβ
3 and u-PA receptor.
55–58 Consequently,
binding of PAI-1 to vitronectin can block binding of VSMCs to
vitronectin and inhibit VSMC migration through extracellular
matrices, which could inhibit neointima formation. PAI-1 also
modulates the activation and vascular effects of transforming
growth factor-β1, which has important, though pleiotropic,
effects on VSMC proliferation and migration.
46,59

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Figure 2. PAI-1 stabilizes the provisional fibrin matrix. Inhibition of fibrinolysis by PAI-1 can promote accumulation of intravascular fibrin, which may be invaded by proliferating VSMCs and circulating progenitor cells to form a cellular neointima.
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Figure 3. Inhibition of VSMC migration by PAI-1. PAI-1 inhibits u-PA bound to u-PA receptor (uPAR) on the surface of VSMC, which reduces plasmin formation and degradation of extracellular matrices. PAI-1 also binds to the amino-terminus of vitronectin, to which (uPAR) and Vβ3 also bind, thereby inhibiting vitronectin-dependent migration of VSMC.
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Role of PA System in Atherogenesis
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Plasminogen deficiency enhances atherosclerosis formation in
apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE
–/–) mice.
60 Such
an effect could potentially be caused by enhanced fibrin formation
in the absence of plasminogen, with increased intravascular
fibrin promoting plaque growth.
61 However, arguing against this
hypothesis are the observations that fibrinogen-deficient apoE
–/– mice are not protected from atherosclerosis formation compared
with apoE
–/– mice with normal fibrinogen expression,
62 and overexpression of fibrinogen does not enhance atherosclerosis
development in apoE*3-Leiden transgenic mice.
63 However, fibrinogen
promotes atherogenesis in apolipoprotein(a)-transgenic mice,
64 supporting a role for fibrinogen in atherogenesis, as has been
suggested by clinical data in humans.
65 The capacity of plasmin
to activate latent transforming growth factor-β1 (which
has been reported in some studies to inhibit VSMC proliferation
and migration
66) and to promote apoptosis are potential mechanisms
by which plasminogen deficiency may promote atherosclerosis
development.
60,67 While plasminogen deficiency promotes atherogenesis
in apoE
–/– mice, complete u-PA deficiency (which,
like plasminogen deficiency, would be expected to diminish plasmin
formation within the vascular wall) does not significantly alter
atherosclerosis formation in hyperlipidemic mice.
68 Because
complete plasminogen deficiency leads to multi-organ damage
and systemic illness, which could modulate atherogenesis by
several pathways, localized perturbation of plasminogen activation
within the vascular wall is probably necessary to adequately
study the role of the PA system in atherogenesis. Interestingly,
macrophage-targeted overexpression of u-PA accelerates atherogenesis
in apoE
–/– mice, potentially by promoting destruction
of the vascular media.
69 The role of PAI-1 in murine atherogenesis
has been controversial, with different studies concluding that
hyperlipidemic mice also deficient in PAI-1 have unchanged,
70 less,
71 or more
72 spontaneous atherosclerosis development within
the aorta or at the distal bifurcation of the carotid artery
compared with hyperlipidemic mice with normal PAI-1 expression.
As the case with studies of PAI-1 and vascular remodeling in
mice with normal lipid metabolism, effects of PAI-1 on fibrin
homeostasis do not appear sufficient to account for all of its
observed effects on atherogenesis. Effects of PAI-1 on infiltration
of cells, such as macrophage, into plaque, proliferation, migration,
and apoptosis of VSMCs,
53,54,73,74 and accumulation and composition
of extracellular matrix in plaque
72 appear to represent important
mechanisms by which PAI-1 modulates atherogenesis.
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Resolving the PAI-1 Paradox: Clinical Insights, Key Issues, and Potential Future Studies
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The discordant results of mouse studies examining the impact
of PAI-1 on intimal hyperplasia and atherosclerosis development
are perplexing and raise concerns regarding the potential use
of PAI-1 inhibitors as therapeutic agents in patients with vascular
disease.
75 Interestingly, human studies of the role of PAI-1
in restenosis after coronary artery angioplasty have also yielded
discordant results. One study found that elevated plasma PAI-1
was associated with increased risk of restenosis.
76 However,
another study found that elevated plasma PAI-1 was associated
with a reduced risk of restenosis,
77 and a third study found
that plasma PAI-1 levels were associated with a decreased risk
of restenosis if a stent was implanted, but not if only balloon
angioplasty (ie, without stent implantation) was performed.
78 While these human studies examined associations, rather than
cause-and-effect relationships, they highlight the complex vascular
functions of PAI-1 and support the hypothesis that PAI-1 may
inhibit or promote the development of vascular pathology, including
in humans, depending on experimental and clinical conditions.
For both humans and mice, it is plausible that when vascular
injury is associated with activation of the blood coagulation
system and fibrin formation, that PAI-1 may promote intimal
hyperplasia and atherosclerotic plaque development by stabilizing
fibrin, which serves as a matrix to support VSMC migration.
Alternatively, in the absence of fibrin formation, cell migration
within the vascular wall may be inhibited by PAI-1 through it
capacity to inhibit u-PA and/or block interactions between cells
and vitronectin in the extracellular matrix. Such an anti-migratory
effect of PAI-1 could inhibit not only intimal hyperplasia but
also cell content within the fibrous cap of atherosclerotic
plaques, which could promote plaque rupture.
79,80 However, in
distinction to migration, the proliferation of VSMC may be promoted
by direct effects of PAI-1 on cell division and by PAI-1s
anti-apoptotic properties.
53,54 Therefore, under conditions
in which VSMC proliferation is the dominant mechanism driving
vascular pathology, PAI-1 could potentially increase neointimal
growth. In fact, these different conditions may exist in the
same artery at different time points after vascular injury.
Otsuka et al
46,81 have suggested that local levels of transforming
growth factor-β1 expression may play a key role in determining
whether PAI-1 promotes or inhibits neointima formation. Effects
of other modifier genes on PAI-1 function likely account for
the observed mouse strain effect on PAI-1 function in vivo.
72,82
Experiments involving targeted disruption or enhancement of PAI-1 expression within specific cell types, as opposed to total-body PAI-1 deficiency, will likely be necessary to gain a thorough understanding of the role of PAI-1 in neointima formation after vascular injury. Overexpression of PAI-1 within VSMCs reduces the cellularity of neointimal lesions in apoE–/– mice, supporting the hypothesis that enhanced PAI-1 expression in atheroma could promote plaque rupture by decreasing the cellular content of the fibrous cap.80 A recent study found that PAI-1 originating from bone marrow-derived cells inhibited neointima formation after ferric chloride-induced vascular injury.83 However, bone marrow cell-derived PAI-1 did not alter plaque size in apoE–/– mice, apparently because of the fact the VSMCs, rather than macrophages, are the dominant source of PAI-1 in atherosclerotic plaque.72 Because PAI-1 interacts with several molecules, which can produce opposing effects on vascular remodeling (eg, inhibition of fibrinolysis may promote intimal hyperplasia, while inhibition of u-PA and/or binding of PAI-1 to vitronectin may inhibit intimal hyperplasia), the use of a null allele to study PAI-1 function may not be adequate to study the regulatory role of PAI-1 in vivo in specific pathways. One approach to circumvent this potential problem is to inactivate specific functional domains of PAI-1, rather than to completely disrupt PAI-1 expression. PAI-1 mutants lacking antiproteolytic activity, but maintaining normal vitronectin binding (and the converse), have been generated.84,85 Transgenic or knock-in strategies could be used to examine the function of these PAI-1 mutants, thereby helping to elucidate the in vivo impact of altering one aspect of PAI-1 function (eg, regulation of VSMC-associated u-PA activity) without disturbing others (eg, regulation of binding of
Vβ3 to vitronectin).
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Strengths and Limitations of Using the Mouse to Model the Human PA System
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In summary, studies involving genetically modified mice have
helped to clarify the roles of different PA system components
in modulating hemostasis and thrombosis. In general, the results
of mouse thrombosis studies from different groups have been
concordant, and the murine data have generally been consistent
with phenotypic abnormalities observed in humans with spontaneous
mutations in PA system genes. Experiments examining the role
of the PA system in vascular remodeling and atherosclerosis,
while extremely useful and important, have not achieved as high
a level of consistency between published studies, nor has the
relevance of experimental results to human disease states, such
as myocardial infarction, been as high as observed in mouse
experiments focusing on acute thrombosis. Several reasons are
likely to account for these findings. The scientific variables
in studies of vascular remodeling and atherosclerosis, which
occur over weeks to months in mice, are likely considerably
larger than those in short-term thrombosis experiments, which
generally last <30 minutes in mice. The techniques used to
trigger vascular remodeling in mice (eg, arterial ligation,
and chemical and electrical injury) do not adequately model
the more chronic and subtle forms of injury that produce vascular
disease in humans. Similarly, murine atherosclerosis models
do not generate the complex rupture-prone arterial plaques that
are typical of human disease.
86 Vessel size and blood flow are
important determinants of vascular function and remodeling,
and the cross-sectional area of the human aorta is

200-fold
greater than that of the mouse aorta. Particularly in chronic
experiments, the study of mice with total-body deficiency of
a PA system component (eg, PAI-1) may not adequately reflect
the role of that factor if it acts in different cell types or
biologic compartments to produce opposing effects on the parameter
being studied (eg, atherosclerosis). Despite these limitations,
the laboratory mouse has proved extremely useful in defining
the vascular functions of different components of the PA system.
Future mouse studies, particularly those involving cell type-specific
manipulations of PA system components, as well as those involving
introduction of mutations that alter, rather than completely
ablate, the function of PA system components, are likely to
contribute much more to our knowledge of how the PA system modulates
human vascular diseases.
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Acknowledgments
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Sources of Funding
This work was funded by the NIH/NHLBI (P01 HL57346). Dr Fay is an investigator of the Research Service, Harry S. Truman VA Hospital, Columbia, Missouri.
Disclosures
None.
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Footnotes
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Original received January 12, 2007; final version accepted March
1, 2007.
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