Kallikrein excretion in parotid saliva in rats with various forms of arterial hypertension.

A technique for continuous and quantitative collection of parotid saliva--including salivary flow rate determination--for in vivo experiments in rats is described. Excretion of kallikrein-like activity in parotid saliva of rats with various forms of arterial hypertension (genuine, renovascular and DOCTMA-salt hypertension) was studied. Kallikrein excretion was measured by its esterolytic activity. The levels of kallikrein-like activity in parotid saliva of normotensive control rats ranged between 2.5--4.0 mU/min during salivary flow stimulation with pilocarpine. In all forms of experimental hypertension salivary excretion of kallikrein-like activity was increased 2--4 fold. This increase was not related to the activity of the renin-angiotensin system.