The present invention is a method of reducing vascular permeability in tissue of a subject comprising inhibiting the activity of serine proteinase tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). This tPA activity which increases permeability of the tissue in a subject results in edema in the tissue is separate from tPA's thrombolytic activity. The present invention more specifically relates to administering an amount of a tPA inhibitor sufficient to reduce the vascular permeability increasing activity of tPA in a subject. Useful tPA inhibitors for the present method are neuroserpin, mutant neuroserpin, wild-type PAI-1, mutant PAI-1, an antibody that binds to tPA, an antibody that binds to the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor or a low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor family antagonist.