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When it's exposed to the tissue outside,
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a series of chemical reactions gets initiated.
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That series of chemical
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reactions is called the coagulation cascade.
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It involves proteins that are also enzymes
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that go from an inactive state to an active state.
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This is described in the book in some detail.
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I'm not going to ask you
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questions about the molecular details of this.
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I want you to just sort of understand the concept,
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that a protein in the blood gets activated
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by exposure to a foreign surface.