Urinary kallikrein activity in pregnant hypertensive rats.
Goldblatt one-kidney one-clip (G1K-1C) hypertensive rats were studied to determine the changes of blood pressure (BP) and urinary kallikrein (UK) excretion throughout pregnancy. Uninephrectomized rats (Unx) were used as controls. Both groups showed a significant decrease in BP on day 21 of pregnancy, although G1K-1C rats had higher values. UK activity was markedly stimulated in both groups, reaching its highest level on day 21. This increment in UK was due to greater delivery and/or synthesis of the enzyme, since no change was observed in the active fraction. We postulate that the highly activated kallikrein-kinin system might be contributing to the hypotensive effect of pregnancy.
D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006978:Hypertension, Renovascular / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007610:Kallikreins / Q000652:urine*; D007700:Kinetics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011249:Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D007610:Kallikreins