Urinary excretion of albumin with an altered three-dimensional conformation in diabetic functional nephropathy. Evidence for a pathogenetic role.
The free sulfhydryl group content of serum and urinary albumin has been evaluated in eight normal and 23 diabetic patients with various grades of urinary albumin excretion rates. While in normal subjects and in diabetics with either normal albuminuria or functional nephropathy, urinary albumin showed a statistically higher content of free sulfhydryl groups compared to homologous serum, diabetic patients with clinical nephropathy showed no difference. These results indicate that an increased urinary excretion of albumin altered in its conformational status is the main feature of diabetic functional nephropathy and suggest that a molecular mechanism determines the glomerular accumulation of albumin.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000419:Albuminuria / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000209:etiology / Q000652:urine*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000032:analysis
D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds