Renal reabsorptive capacity for alpha 2u-globulin in the adult male rat.

Adult male rats were maintained on 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% casein diets to produce a series of animals having serum alpha 2u-globulin levels varying linearly from a normal of 31 micrograms/ml to a minimum of 13 micrograms/ml. In this way, it was possible to titrate endogenously the renal reabsorption and urinary excretion of this low molecular weight protein. The average maximal reabsorption rate (Tm) was established to be 9.7 micrograms/min and was reached at a renal filtered load (F alpha 2u) of 13.6 micrograms/min. These data were expressed in terms of a Tm:F alpha 2u ratio of 0.71. Below this value, the reabsorption declined from 70% to 50% of the F alpha 2u. Above 0.71, where F alpha 2u is less than the Tm, the reabsorption increased to 80-90%. It was observed that the fractional renal uptake of the alpha 2u-globulin varied linearly with the filtered load.