Radioimmunoassays of urinary 5 alpha-7 alpha-dihydroxyketotetranorprosta-1,16-dioic acid and its delta-lactone(main urinary metabolite of
PGF,
PGF-MUM) were performed for the patients with several
pulmonary diseases. The quantities of
PGE and
PGF in plasma for the patients with
pulmonary emphysema especially were also measured by radioimmunoassay. Following results were obtained. 1) Twenty-four hours secretions of
PGF-MUM in normal subjects were 18.4 +/- 9.1 microgram/day (24.5 +/- 9.2 microgram/day in male, 12.2 +/- 2.6 microgram/day in female) on an average. The values of
PGF-MUM in male were significantly higher than those in female (P less than 0.03). 2) Twenty-four hours secretions of
PGF-MUM for the patients with
pulmonary emphysema were significantly lower (P less than 0.01) than those in the normal controls (P less than 0.01), and the values of
PGF-MUM were correlated significantly (r=0.451, P less than 0.05) with arterial
oxygen partial pressure. 3) Twenty-four hours secretions of
PGF-MUM in the patients with
asthma bronchiale,
chronic bronchitis,
hypersensitivity pneumonitis,
pulmonary fibrosis and
lung cancer were not significantly different from those in the normal controls. But, higher values of
PGF-MUM were contained in the
pulmonary fibrosis group, and the values of
PGF-MUM were correlated with the serum LDH levels (r= 0.652, P less than 0.01). 4) The plasma
PGF quantities were 0.7 +/- 0.5 ng/ml and the plasma
PGE quantities were 1.7 +/- 0.6 ng/ml in normal subjects on an average. 5) The plasma
PGF and
PGE quantities in the patients with
pulmonary emphysema were not significantly different from those in the normal controls. 6) A significant inverse correlation was observed between the decrease changes of pulmonary arterial pressures and the changes of plasma
PGE quantities after
oxygen inhalation for the patients with
pulmonary emphysema (r= -0.737, P 0.01).