125Iodinated human beta 2 microglobulin (beta 2m, 5 to 30 mg) was administered to anesthetized rats. Clearance studies showed a low threshold of excretion of injected beta 2m and a high Tm of 400 to 600 micrograms X min-1 X kg-1. A glomerular sieving coefficient of 0.97 was calculated as the slope of the curve: beta 2m excretion rate = F (plasma beta 2m X glomerular filtration rate) for values above saturation. Electrophoresis analysis of proteinuria in agarose gel and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel showed that injection of saturating doses of beta 2m induced the excretion of proteins of similar size but different charge and that of other proteins of different size. Among the latter, some were excreted transiently in association with beta 2m, whereas others had a delayed excretion suggesting existence of a complex mechanism of reabsorption whose steps remain to be elucidated.

1. 125I-labelled beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2m) was injected into rats and protein or non protein-bound radioactivity was determined in plasma urine and several organs. 2. The observed kinetics differed from those expected according to the bicompartmental model for plasma protein turnover. The difference was attributed to the binding of a part of the tracer to a plasma component. Chromatography of plasma taken after injection of beta 2m showed an additional peak of radioactivity at the 55,000-80,000 daltons position. 3. In animals with ligated renal arteries, disappearance of the tracer from the plasma was markedly prolonged, and little non-protein-bound radioactivity was detectable in plasma, indicating that the kidney was the major site of catabolism of beta 2m. 4. Chromatography of plasma from control rats and rats with ligated renal arteries showed that the kidney was the major site of catabolism for free beta 2m only. 5. In normal rats, the urine was found to contain only non-protein-bound radioactivity.

1. Piretanide is a new loop diuretic resembling furosemide. The effects of this diuretic on various parameters of renal function and on the excretion of the major ions were studied on anaesthetized, hydrated rats. 2. Piretanide induced a marked diuresis and increased sodium, potassium, chloride and calcium excretion. Calcium excretion increased more than that of sodium. Urinary osmolality and water reabsorption decreased. 3. Inulin clearance and phosphate excretion were significantly altered by piretanide. 4. Pretreatment of rats with indomethacin did not suppress the effects of piretanide on diuresis nor its effects on urinary excretion of sodium, chloride and potassium, since these parameters increased in the same proportion in the presence or in the absence of indomethacin. 5. Pretreatment with indomethacin abolished piretanide-induced dissociation of sodium and calcium excretions.

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