Partial characterization of endogenous digoxinlike substance in human urine.

Urinary samples were collected from individuals not taking cardiac glycosides. Aliquots of 30 ml were passed through preparative octadecylsilane-bonded phase columns and eluted in fractions by stepwise increasing concentrations of acetonitrile. Eluted fractions were analysed for their contents of endogenous digoxinlike substance (EDLS) by radioimmunoassay of digoxin and by a bioassay of cardiac glycosides, which measures the uptake of rubidium (86Rb) by erythrocytes as an index of Na+, K+-ATPase activity. In both assays, digoxinlike activity was found in several fractions, but the highest values were consistently measured in the fractions eluted with 40% acetonitrile. Greater amounts of EDLS were recovered from the urine of pregnant women than from the urine of men and nonpregnant women.