[Changes in urinary excretion of platelet activating factor and its significance in patients with primary nephrotic...

In order to explore the change of urinary excretion of platelet activating factor (PAF) and its significance in patients with primary nephrotic syndrome (PNS), we determined the urinary and plasma PAF in 12 cases of PNS, using platelet aggregation bioassay. The results showed that the level of urinary PAF was significantly higher in patients with PNS (n = 12) than in healthy controls (n = 10), but that of plasma PAF was comparable in patients with PNS and controls, suggesting that the excessive generation of PAF is confined to kidney. There was a significant positive correlation between urinary excretion of PAF and proteinuria (r = 0.73, P < 0.01). The results indicated that increased urinary excretion of PAF can serve as an indicator for augmentation of the permeability of glomerular basement membrane (GBM) in PNS.