The effect of enalapril on nephrotic proteinuria and determination of serum angiotensin-converting enzyme before and after treatment.

In order to evaluate the effect of an ACE-inhibitor (enalapril) on nephrotic proteinuria in patients with primitive nephropathies, to determine the SACE before and after treatment and to compare the variation of SACE levels with the variations of proteinuria, seventeen patients were studied (5 F, 12 M) aged between 10 and 68 years. All patients were evaluated in basal conditions for creatinine clearance, protidaemia, proteinuria, SACE and serum electrolytes. All but one patient had a renal biopsy. After basal evaluation nine patients received enalapril, 10 mg/die, for two weeks. After one week SACE levels were re-evaluated, while the proteinuria was re-evaluated several times during the two weeks of treatment. The results obtained suggest (1) SACE levels are significantly higher in patients with nephrotic syndrome than in normal patients (21.14 +/- 8.37 nmol/ml/min; N.V.:15.60 +/- 4.73; M +/- s.d.; p less than 0.01); (2) proteinuria is unresponsive to the ACE-inhibitor action (varied from 8.00 +/- 2.70 g/24 h to 7.74 +/- 3.19 g/24 h, p = NS); (3) no correlation exists between the reduction of SACE levels and variations of proteinuria.