Increase of bikunin and alpha1-microglobulin concentrations in urine of rats during pregnancy is due to decreased tubular reabsorption

• Bikunin and alpha1-microglobulin are two plasma proteins of about 25 kDa which are made in the liver from a common precursor. The concentration of bikunin in human urine has been shown to increase several fold during various conditions of stress. The mechanism behind this increase is unknown. We have studied pregnant rats and found that the bikunin and alpha1-microglobulin levels in their urine increased 3-fold towards the end of the pregnancy, whereas those of albumin and orosomucoid did not. There were no significant changes in either the bikunin/alpha1-microglobulin mRNA level or the concentrations of the two proteins in serum. These findings imply that the synthesis and the clearance rates of bikunin and alpha1-microglobulin are normal during pregnancy but that the tubular reabsorption of these proteins is decreased.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Infektionsmedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Infectious Medicine (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Cell- och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Cell and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Alpha-Globulins/analysis

Animals

Female

Glycoproteins/blood

Kidney Tubules/metabolism

Liver/metabolism

Membrane Glycoproteins

Orosomucoid/analysis

Pregnancy/blood

RNA, Messenger/isolation & purification

Rats

Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Trypsin Inhibitor, Kunitz Soybean

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)