Effect of changes in perfusion pressure on renal and urinary kallikrein in the isolated perfused rat kidney.

Kallikrein activity in urine and in the renal cortex of the isolated rat kidney, perfused at constant pressure, decreased, while renal perfusate flow, glomerular filtration rate, excretion of sodium and of potassium and urine flow remained unchanged. Abrupt changes in perfusion pressure resulted in corresponding changes in renal perfusate flow, glomerular filtration rate, excretion of sodium and of potassium and urine flow. Urinary kallikrein increased little and transiently only, each time perfusion pressure was elevated. At the end of the experiments, a marked decrease in kallikrein activity in the renal tissue was found. From these results, it might be concluded that the excretion of kallikrein from the isolated perfused rat kidney resulted in a marked depletion of kallikrein stores in the kidney, probably due to an insufficient kallikrein synthesis.