title: Angiotensin-converting enzyme: serum levels during normal pregnancy.
abstract: ACE activity of the serum of 52 normal pregnant women was measured in vitro under conditions of substrate saturation with Hip-His-Leu as substrate. The product His-Leu was measured by fluorimetry after reaction with o-phthaldehyde. ACE activity (nmol/min/ml serum) was 30.6 +/- 7.8, 28.8 +/- 7.4, and 30.9 +/- 8.2 for the first, second, and third trimester of pregnancy, respectively. No statistically significant differences (p greater than 0.05) in ACE activity were detected among the three trimesters of normal pregnancy with either serum volume or serum protein as reference value. These values are within the range reported by Friedland and Silverstein13 for 51 male and seven female healthy blood bank donors. We conclude that the evolution of normal pregnancy does not significantly modify the levels of ACE in peripheral blood serum.
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009842:Oligopeptides; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A