Transvascular albumin and IgG flux in skin after a continuous 3-h bradykinin infusion.

Bradykinin (1 microgram/min) was infused into the femoral artery of one hindleg of anesthetized rabbits for 3 h. Measurements of the initial extravascular uptake for labeled albumin and immunoglobulin (Ig) G were compared with measurements of the lymph protein flux for endogenous albumin and IgG. With bradykinin, the initial extravascular uptake for both albumin and IgG, calculated as the 1-h extravascular distribution space at plasma concentration divided by time and expressed as a plasma clearance, was 12 times the control values. For both proteins, the lymph fluxes were not significantly greater than the values for extravascular uptake, indicating that the sustained increase in lymph protein flux was not due to washout of interstitial protein. The extravascular uptake for IgG was approximately 80% of that for albumin in both control and bradykinin animals, suggesting that the sustained response did not change the selectivity between the two proteins. Changes in the extravascular masses of endogenous albumin and IgG suggest that the initial response to bradykinin was a transient formation of endothelial gaps that did not restrict transvascular IgG transport more than albumin.