Buyang Huanwu Tang was said to provide significant anticoagulant effect and earthworm mainly contributed to this effect.The present study attempted to confirm the effect and determine the possibility that earthworm extract (EE) is used as anticoagulant. This study revealed that:(l) Whole blood clotting time in mice received EE(ip) was significantly prolonged and dose dependent. (2) Thrombin time in rabbits injected EE(iv) was sharply prolonged and recovered within an hour.(3) In vitro after adding EE into plasma APTT and PT were remarkably prolonged and exhibited the dose-effect relationship. ...