Urinary excretion of glycosaminoglycans in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis.

The organic bone matrix contains glycosaminoglycans (GAG) of which the precise function and importance in bone mineralisation are still unclear. We examined 85 persons--35 healthy women (25 premenopausal [preMP] mean aged 40.7 years; 10 menopausal [MP] mean aged 59.3 years) and 50 patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis [PMOP] at a mean age 60.4 years. The dynamic of urinary excretion of GAG was measured in 24-hour collected urine by precipitation with cetylpyridinum chloride and spectrophotometry at 560 nm, corrected for the level of excretion of creatinine. There was a significant increase in GAG excretion in patients with PMOP compared with healthy persons (8.25 mg/g and 9.53 mg/g vs 24.11 mg/g; p < 0.0001). A significant positive correlation was established between GAG and calcium urinary excretion and a negative one between GAG and serum estradiol levels. During the treatment with calcitonin the excretion of GAG was decreased which can be used for monitoring the changes of bone metabolism.

Excretory function after unilateral renal denervation and administration of propranolol to unanaesthetized dogs.

The experiments were carried out on female dogs with exteriorized ureters prior to and following surgical denervation of the left kidney. Propranolol 1.0 mg/kg b.w. was administered intravenously. Sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, creatinine and urea concentrations in the urine from the denervated and intact kidneys as well as in blood drawn were determined. After renal denervation PAH clearance was determined. As a result of denervation diuresis and calcium and copper excretion were increased while urine osmolality was diminished. No change occurred in kidney blood flow and GFR. After propranolol administration diuresis, calcium and copper excretion in the intact kidney significantly increased. Changes in the excretory function of the left kidney following its denervation were not a result of alterations in renal haemodynamics. Results obtained indicative of that beta-adrenergic receptors contribute to the excretion of calcium and copper ions.

[A comparison of the diagnostic reliability of the results of isotopic and routine clearance studies in essential and symptomatic hypertension]. / Supostavka na diagnostichnata nadezhnost na rezultatite ot izotopnite i niakoi rutinni klirunsovi prouchvaniia pri esentsialna i simptomatichna khipertoniia.

40 patients with arterial hypertension II stage, 51 patients with chronic pyelonephritis and glomerulonephritis and a control group of IO healthy persons were examined during a free from medicamentous treatment period by a group of clearance tests in order to study the excretory system function and the degree of its affection in the earliest phases of the diseases studied. By means of the isotopic clearances of 169Yb-EDTA for determinations of the glomerular filtration, 131-I-hippuran for effective renal plasma circulation, the electrolytic clearances of Na, K, Ca, Cl and creatinine, the volume of the water excretion and the lithium clearance, the degree of the renal lesion was determined in every patient examined by the deviations from the normal values and the role of the different nephron sections as well. The results of the study revealed that the best tests for evaluation of the renal function in chronic renal diseases are the electrolyte clearances of Na, K, Ca, Cl, and in arterial hypertension--the lithium clearance.