Renin and angiotensinogen have been previously found in the rat pancreas, and angiotensin receptors have been located in the apical domain of duct cells. To evaluate the possibility that angiotensin II could be generated within the duct system, we decided to determine whether angiotensinogen is present in rat pancreatic juice and the angiotensinogen-immunoreactive pancreatic cell types that cou...

The M235T polymorphism of human angiotensinogen is associated with essential and pregnancy-induced hypertension. A covalent complex is formed between angiotensinogen and the proform of the eosinophil major basic protein (proMBP) during pregnancy. The sequence of human angiotensinogen contains four cysteines. Their function was analyzed. Presence of free cysteines was demonstrated by their alkyl...

The role of intracellular messengers in the stimulatory effect of angiotensin II on angiotensinogen synthesis and secretion in hepatocytes was examined. Angiotensinogen secretion was not influenced by modulators of intracellular calcium (calmidazolium, A 23187, Bay K 8644, methoxamine). In contrast, agents decreasing intracellular cAMP (angiotensin II, guanfacine) stimulated, and those increasi...

The angiotensinogen M235T polymorphism in humans is linked to differential expression of the human angiotensinogen gene (AGT) gene and hypertension, but the homeostatic responses resulting from this polymorphism are not known. We therefore investigated how mice respond to five genetically determined levels of mouse angiotensinogen gene (Agt) expression covering the range associated with the M23...

The distribution of angiotensinogen messenger (mRNA) was determined in the rat aorta. Other investigators have demonstrated the presence of angiotensinogen mRNA in whole rat aorta; however, its precise location in the blood vessel wall has not been defined. When various layers of the vessel wall were separated by dissection or cell dispersion, angiotensinogen mRNA levels were greatest in the pe...

The transgenic rat TGR(mRen-2)27, in which the Ren-2 mouse renin gene is transfected into the genome of the rat, develops severe hypertension with high adrenal renin and low kidney renin. These animals express both mouse and rat renin. To investigate the cause of hypertension in the TGR rat, we compared the kinetics of mouse renin acting on mouse and rat angiotensinogens. The optimum pH of the ...

We developed a model of spontaneously high human renin hypertension in the rat by producing two transgenic strains, one for human angiotensinogen with the endogenous promoter and one for human renin with the endogenous promoter. Neither transgenic strain was hypertensive. These strains were then crossed, producing a double transgenic strain. The double transgenic rats, both males and females, d...