Urinary kallikrein and kininase activity in normal and complicated by hypertension pregnancy

Kallikrein and kininase activities were determined in urine of 58 hospitalized pregnant patients: 15 with E.P.H. gestosis, 10 with chronic hypertension, 18 with non proteinuric pregnancy induced hypertension, 15 with no hemodynamic disease as controls. All our cases with hypertension were treated with alpha-methyl-dopa. A significant increase in urinary kininase activity was shown by only E.P.H. gestosis group vs. controls. In the same group we found a significant decrease in urinary kallikrein activity vs. controls, in contrast with the results obtained previously, perhaps because of the different measuring method. The kininase/kallikrein ratio, theoretically indicative of kinins activity, increased significantly only in the E.P.H. gestosis group.