Urinary excretion of activatable kallikrein in one-kidney pole-ligated hypertensive rats

Kallikrein activatable by trypsin was found in the urine of normal rats, corresponding to about 33% of the total kallikrein excretion. This fraction was inhibited by aprotinin and kallikrein antiserum. There was no spontaneous activation at 20 degrees C for 24 h or at 37 degrees C for 15 h which indicates that the amount detectable in the urine may represent the levels of activatable kallikrein in the renal tubule. Sephacryl S-200 chromatography of the urine disclosed the presence of two forms of kallikrein, active and activatable, with apparent molecular weights of 30 000 and 34 500 respectively. These findings allow us to assume that the activatable fraction would correspond to prokallikrein, as described by others. In hypertensive one-kidney pole-ligated rats, the total urinary kallikrein did not differ from that excreted by solely uninephrectomized rats, though the active kallikrein showed a significant drop (P less than 0.001). These results suggest that in hypertensive rats there is an alteration in the activation mechanisms of kallikrein.