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(Circulation Research. 2006;99:1285.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

On the Pathophysiological Implications of an Intracellular Renin Receptor

Walmor C. De Mello

From the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan.

Correspondence to Walmor C. De Mello, Medical Sciences Campus, School of Medicine, PO Box 36–5067, San Juan, PR 00936-5067, USA. E-mail wmello@rcm.upr.edu

See related article, pages 1355–1366

Key Words: intracellular • renin • receptor • patophysiological • implications

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

The renin angiotensin system plays an important role on the regulation of arterial pressure, blood volume and cardiac function. Both a circulating and several tissue-localized systems have been identified and able to cleave angiotensinogen by renin to form angiotensin I which is converted to angiotensin II (Ang II) by angiotensin converting enzyme. The presence of local Ang II generation, which has been supported by the beneficial effects of Ang II AT₁ receptor blockers and ACE inhibitors independently of their effects on arterial blood pressure, certainly requires that renin, angiotensinogen and ACE be synthesized locally or taken from the plasma.

Concerning the presence of the different components of the RAS in different tissues¹ evidence is available that in nephrectomized rats, the renin levels in the heart, for instance, are extremely low² what indicates that intracellular renin in cardiac myocytes of normal animals, would need to come from plasma. However, rats transgenic for the mouse ren-2^d renin gene develop severe hypertension and cardiac remodeling³ and incubation of cardiac myocytes from these animals with prorenin (the precursor of renin) leads to intracellular appearance of angiotensin I and II³ what suggests prorenin internalization. Moreover, an alternative transcript for a nonsecreted renin has been described in brain and heart.^4,5 The transfection of a nonsecreted form of angiotensinogen into hepatoma cells that expressed this renin transcript, increased proliferation by a process that is sensitive to renin antisense,⁶ indicating that the renin transcript has functional properties. Indeed, the alternative renin trancript is upregulated in adult rats with . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

A Novel Signal Transduction Cascade Involving Direct Physical Interaction of the Renin/Prorenin Receptor With the Transcription Factor Promyelocytic Zinc Finger Protein

Jan H. Schefe, Mario Menk, Jana Reinemund, Karin Effertz, Robin M. Hobbs, Pier Paolo Pandolfi, Patricia Ruiz, Thomas Unger, and Heiko Funke-Kaiser
Circ. Res. 2006 99: 1355-1366. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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