Normal values for 24-h urinary protein excretion: total and low molecular weight proteins with a sex-related difference.

Urinary excretion of total and low molecular weight (LMW) (less than 40,000) proteins for a 24-h period was determined in 60 normal individuals, 30 men and 30 women, aged 21 to 44 years. 24-h urinary total protein excretion in men was 91.2 +/- 25.1 mg (mean +/- SD) (range: 40.2-146.8 mg), while that in women was 62.5 +/- 23.6 mg (range: 28.4-130.9 mg), as measured by a biuret method using bicinchoninic acid as a reagent. 24-h urinary LMW protein excretion in men was 37.3 +/- 13.6 mg (range: 12.7-62.7 mg), while that in women was 23.2 +/- 11.8 mg (range: 7.2-54.2 mg), as estimated by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of concentrated urine samples. Thus, a significantly higher (t-test, p less than 0.01) excretion of both the total and LMW proteins was found in men than in women. However, the percentage of the LMW proteins among the total proteins did not differ between the sexes: 40.3 +/- 7.5% (range: 21.7-54.9%) for men and 36.5 +/- 9.9% (range: 20.1-56.7%) for women.