Proteinuria in rats in relation to age-dependent renal changes.

A variety of sex-dependent urinary proteins of low molecular weight, absent in females and in castrated males, can be identified in male rats by disc electrophoresis. In the urine of male rats of age 5.5 months, albumin comprises only 1-2% of the total protein. Albumin excretion increases greatly with age and associated kidney disease. Total protein excretion, however, stays the same or even decreases slightly as the rat ages, due to a loss of low molecular weight, sex-dependent, proteins. These are virtually absent in senescent rats (38 months of age), although total protein excretion rises tenfold in these animals due to high molecular weight plasma proteins passing into the urine; the glomerular filtration rate decreases to 70% of the value measured at 5.5 months of age.