Renin, an aspartyl protease that catalyzes the rate-limiting step in the renin angiotensin system (RAS), is proteolytically activated by a second protease (referred to as the prorenin processing enzyme or PPE) before its secretion from the juxtaglomerular (JG) cells of the kidney. Although several enzymes are capable of activating renin in vitro, the leading candidate for the PPE in the kidney ...

We have developed a transgenic animal model to investigate the effects of overexpression of rat prorenin on the cardiovascular system. Two transgenic rat lines were generated in which rat prorenin expression was directed to the liver by a human alpha1-antitrypsin promoter. Liver-specific expression was confirmed by RNase protection assay. Plasma prorenin concentrations in transgenic rats were i...

Processing of renin involves sequential proteolytic cleavages of a preproform to the active mature forms. Preprorenin is rapidly internalized cotranslationally into the rough endoplasmic reticulum and hydrolyzed by signal peptidase to produce prorenin. In the Golgi, prorenin is converted (within 15 min) to a form of renin that is enzymatically active. Over the next 12 hr, a slow intracellular p...

Method of Blood Collection May Explain the Suppression of Plasma Renin Concentration in Prorenin Transgenic Mice To the Editor: Mercure et al1 reported the targeted expression of mouse prorenin to the liver of mice. Liver expression of mouse prorenin was under the control of the transthyretin gene promoter, and plasma prorenin levels of these TTRmProren transgenic mice were increased by 13to 28...

BACKGROUND Baculovirus, which has a width of 40 nm and a length of 250-300 nm, can display functional peptides, receptors and antigens on its surface by their fusion with a baculovirus envelop protein, GP64. In addition, some transmembrane proteins can be displayed without GP64 fusion, using the native transmembrane domains of the baculovirus. We used this functionality to display human proreni...

Experimental analysis of the effects of individual components of complex mammalian systems is frequently impeded by compensatory adjustments that animals make to achieve homeostasis. We here introduce a genetic procedure for eliminating this type of impediment, by using as an example the development and testing of a transgene for "genetically clamping" the expression of renin, the major homeost...

Expression of (pro)renin receptor ((P)RR), a specific receptor for renin and prorenin, was studied in rat pituitary gland. In situ hybridization showed that cells expressing (P)RR mRNA were widely distributed in the anterior lobe and intermediate lobe of the pituitary gland. Double-staining using in situ hybridization for (P)RR mRNA and immunohistochemistry for the pituitary hormones showed tha...