On human tissue kallikrein activity in urine of Brazilian White and Black primary hypertensive patients.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the possible relationship between the human tissue kallikrein amidase activity with sex and ethnicity in Brazilian primary hypertensive patients.


METHODS
Population-based study.


METHODS
One hundred men and women, Black and White primary hypertensive patients aged 20 years and older were selected. Eighty nine healthy individuals, paired according to age, sex, and ethnics were used as controls.


METHODS
Early-morning midstream urine was used. Human tissue kallikrein amidase activity was estimated with D-Val-Leu-Arg 4-nitroanilide substrate. Creatinine was determined by a method based on Jaffe's reaction. hK1 amidase activity is expressed in microM/(min x mg creatinine) to correct for differences in urine flow rate. Data are expressed as medians.


RESULTS
Human tissue kallikrein amidase activity was significantly lower in the urine of hypertensive patients (0.210 microM/(min x mg creatinine) than in the urine of control subjects (0.260 microM/(min x mg creatinine) (P = .010). This result supports data from the literature. Contrasting to what was already reported, namely that human tissue kallikrein excretion is higher in females than in males, and especially higher in Caucasians than in African Americans, our results show that, in the urine of Brazilian hypertensive patients and control subjects, no significant effect of sex and ethnicity on human tissue kallikrein amidase activity was observed.


CONCLUSIONS
The lack of ethnicity effect supports what was already asserted, namely, that, in Brazil, at an individual level, color, as determined by physical evaluation, is a poor predictor of genomic African ancestry, estimated by molecular markers.
Belo
Andreza Alves
AA
Department of Análises Clinicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmacia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
Sousa
Marinez de Oliveira
Mde O
Machado
Eduardo Luis Guimarães
EL
Figueiredo
Amintas Fabiano de Souza
AF
D000328:Adult; D000581:Amidohydrolases / Q000652:urine; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000201:enzymology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D020840:Tissue Kallikreins / Q000652:urine*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American
D020840:Tissue Kallikreins; D000581:Amidohydrolases; C019665:amidase