The concentrations of
laminin, a high molecular weight non-collagenous
glycoprotein of basement membranes, and of the N-terminal propeptide of
type III procollagen were determined in the serum of the liver outflow vascular region (hepatic vein) and of a peripheral vein (cubital vein) in patients with chronic
liver diseases (
fibrosis,
cirrhosis, unspecified histology; n = 173), in order to determine their secretion rates from the injured livers. The mean levels of
laminin (1.84 kU/l) and of
procollagen peptide (28.0 micrograms/l) in hepatic vein were significantly higher (about 9.5% at p less than 0.02, and 37% at p less than 0.001, respectively) than those in the periphery (1.68 kU/l and 20.4 micrograms/l, respectively). In chronic
liver diseases, however,
laminin and
procollagen peptide concentrations in the hepatic vein were lower than or equal to those in the cubital vein in 18% and 27% of patients, respectively. The highest regional differences of the concentrations were noted in cirrhotic subjects. The serum levels of
laminin (rs 0.93) and of
procollagen peptide (rs 0.73) in hepatic and in cubital vein are highly positively correlated (p less than 0.001), but the levels of
procollagen peptide in hepatic vein are only weakly but still significantly statistically related with those of
laminin (rs 0.446, p less than 0.001). Similarly, the hepatic-cubital venous concentration differences of both
proteins are weakly (rs 0.312) but significantly (p less than 0.001) correlated. On the basis of several assumptions we estimated secretion rates from the livers of 120 U.min-1 for
laminin, and 5.7 micrograms.min-1 for
procollagen peptide.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)