How Does Blood Clot Normally?
Small injuries to blood vessels occur many times every day. The body s method of responding to small injuries in blood vessels is to form small clots to prevent bleeding. Clots form when proteins and platelets in the blood interact with one another and with the blood vessel wall at the site of injury. Certain substances, such as phospholipids, must also be present in the blood for the clotting proteins to function properly and form a clot. The body forms small blood clots in the blood vessels all the time, and there is a delicate balance in place that prevents overwhelming clot formation while also allowing the body to break down the small clots that are formed so that they do not cause problems. How Do APLAs Lead to Blood Clots? We know that APLAs in a test tube cause blood to take a longer than normal time to clot. This is because the antibodies decrease the number of phospholipids available to help the clotting proteins form a clot. On the basis of this information, one would think
