Lumbrokinase helps to maintain healthier blood, lower blood viscosity and support cardiovascular health.*
In many Asian cultures, the use of earthworms in traditional medicine is quite common. Hundreds of years ago, Shizhen Li compiled the famous medical book Compendium of Material, in which the earthworm (Earth dragon) was listed as a remedy for high fever and diuretic purposes in the form of a dried powder.2 This remedy is still used in Chinese folk medicine.
To meet the high demand for more natural solutions to support one's circulatory health, bioactive components from earthworms have been studied all around the world. Because earthworms are widely used in Asian cultures, most of the scientific research on earthworms have been originated from China, Korea and Japan. The results of these studies summarized in several articles show that earthworms' extracts contain a complex enzymatic group known as lumbrokinase that has potent fibrinolytic activity. Lumbrokinase is a group of proteolytic enzymes which are able to dissolve fibrin, a protein which is involved in the coagulation of blood clots. Lumbrokinase has been shown to be safe for oral consumption in humans.3, 4, 5 Advances in the development of molecular and cellular biology techniques have greatly helped biologists to analyze the underlying molecular basis of lumbrokinase extracts. Lumbrokinase has a thrombolytic effect that may improve blood circulation*.6, 7 It has been shown to be an effective oral supplement for improving circulatory health.*8, 9
Pharmacological And Clinical Studies:
Elevated fibrinogen level is a known risk factor that reflects a problem affecting blood flow and consequently leading to heart problems. A study was conducted to observe the efficacy of one-year oral lumbrokinase enteric-coated capsules: 192 participants in the treatment group were given 600,000 units lumbrokinase, three times a day, 30 minutes before meals, and 118 participants in the control group were given placebo capsules). After 1 year of treatment, the researchers found that in the treatment group, fibrinogen level was lower and blood flow was improved. These benefits may be related to the fact that lumbrokinase has selective affinity for fibrinogen and directly hydrolyzes fibrinogen to soluble fibrinogen degradation products improving blood and plasma viscosity. Based on the study, lumbrokinase may have an anti-platelet effect through the elevation of cAMP level and Ca2+ release.10A Japanese research team investigated the pharmacological activity of pure extracts of an earthworm, Lumbricus rubellus. They discovered that the earthworm has fibrinolytic activity that is made of six different fibrinolytic isoenzymes. These enzymes were collectively named lumbrokinase after the genus name for earthworm, Lumbricus.11 Among those isoenzymes, EFE-III-1 and III-2, had strong fibrinolytic activities, broad pH optima (pH 9-11) and displayed resistance to thermal denaturation. Further studies show that lumbrokinase has trypsin-like characteristics with high substrate specificity against fibrin, which may make it suitable as a fibrinolytic agent.12, 13, 14 These results seem to suggest that lumbrokinase could potentially be an effective oral supplement in helping maintain a healthy blood state.*
A clinical study, involving 51 participants, was conducted to investigate the anticoagulation effect and fibrinolytic activity of lumbrokinase in humans. These participants were randomly divided into treatment group (n = 31) and control group (n = 20). Among other parameters, prothrombin time (PT), fibrinogen content, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) activity, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) activity, and D-dimer level were assayed. In the treatment group, t-PA activity and D-dimer level increased, while the content of fibrinogen decreased significantly. There were no significant changes of PT and PAI activity in both groups. The researchers concluded that lumbrokinase is beneficial in lowering fibrinogen levels*. The effect of lumbrokinase may be related to the inhibition of intrinsic coagulation pathway and the activation of fibrinolysis via an increase of t-PA activity.6
In a study conducted at Beijing Tongren Hospital, participants with high levels of fibrinogen were given lumbrokinase tablets to take orally every day for three weeks. Serum fibrinogen levels were examined before and after treatment. In comparison with the control group, serum fibrinogen in the lumbrokinase group significantly decreased two weeks after treatment. These results demonstrated lumbrokinase may lower blood viscosity. Moreover, there were no side effects related to the intake of lumbrokinase.1
