BACKGROUND Rodents express two isoforms of the angiotensin II type 1 (AT(1)) receptor: AT(1A) and AT(1B). It is unclear which receptor subtype mediates contraction in response to angiotensin II in various arteries. We tested the hypothesis that the AT(1B) receptor is the predominant receptor that mediates contraction in the abdominal aorta in response to angiotensin II. METHODS Isometric tens...

Recent clinical studies indicate that blockade of the renin-angiotensin system is important to prevent stroke, and accumulating results of basic research also indicate the possible involvement of the central renin-angiotensin system in ischaemic brain damage and cognition. When the angiotensin II type 1 receptor is blocked by an angiotensin type 1 receptor blocker, unbound angiotensin II acts p...

The endothelial lining of the blood-brain barrier tightly controls the distribution of peptide hormones between the central nervous system and the circulation. By using primary cultures of brain microvessel endothelial cells, an in vitro model of the blood-brain barrier, we report here the uptake and transport of the octapeptide angiotensin II by a specific receptor population. With the angiote...

Angiotensin II causes cardiovascular injury in part by aldosterone-induced mineralocorticoid receptor activation, and it can also activate the mineralocorticoid receptor in the absence of aldosterone in vitro. Here we tested whether endogenous aldosterone contributes to angiotensin II/salt-induced cardiac, vascular, and renal injury by the mineralocorticoid receptor. Aldosterone synthase knocko...

[Purpose] This study aimed to assess the exercise capacity and muscle strength in elderly people using drugs for angiotensin-II blockage. [Subjects and Methods] Four hundred and seven older adults were recruited for this study. Data about comorbidities and medication use were recorded and the individuals were divided into three groups: control group- elderly people with normal exercise capacity...

In the rat, angiotensin II receptors of the adrenal glomerulosa and smooth muscle undergo reciprocal regulatory changes that parallel the changes in target cell sensitivity to angiotensin II during altered sodium intake. In primates, the relative importance of angiotensin II receptor regulation during sodium-induced changes in angiotensin II sensitivity is not clear. To evaluate the role of ang...

Can the Study of Female Rats Help Our Understanding of Women? To the Editor: Sampson et al1 are to be congratulated for their important contribution to knowledge of the effects of gender on the effects of angiotensin peptides. Importantly, their study showed in rats that low-dose angiotensin II reduced blood pressure in females but not in males, and this blood pressure reduction was mediated by...

The kidney is an important target organ for angiotensin II. The diverse biologic effects of angiotensin II in the kidney and periphery suggest that angiotensin II may be interacting with more than one receptor. Recently, the synthesis of highly selective nonpeptide angiotensin II receptor antagonists and the expression cloning of the angiotensin receptor have unequivocally demonstrated the exis...

We investigated whether angiotensin II infusion modulates in vivo the kinin B1 receptor expression and the mechanisms involved in this process. We also evaluated the role of the B1 receptor activation in aorta. Wistar rats received 400 ng/kg per minute of angiotensin II or saline (control rats) infusion during 14 days through an osmotic minipump. To investigate the role of superoxide anion in B...