Evidence for a second type of fibril branch point in fibrin polymer networks, the trimolecular junction

Abstract

Fibrin molecules polymerize to double-stranded fibrils by intermolecular end-to-middle domain pairing of complementary polymerization sites, accompanied by fibril branching to form a clot network. Mass/length measurements on scanning transmission electron microscopic images of fibrils comprising branch points showed two types of junctions. Tetramolecular junctions occur when two fibrils converge, creating a third branch with twice the mass/length of its constituents. Newly recognized trimolecular junctions have three fibril branches of equal mass/length, and occur when an extraneous fibrin molecule initiates branching in a propagating fibril by bridging across two unpaired complementary polymerization sites. When trimolecular junctions predominate, clots exhibit nearly perfect elasticity.