The regulatory effects of angiotensin II (AngII) on its receptor subtypes, AT1 and AT2, were studied using cultured bovine adrenal cells (BAC), which express both receptor subtypes, and PC12W and R3T3 cells, which express only AT2 receptors. In BAC, AngII caused a decrease in AT1- and AT2-binding sites and their corresponding messenger RNAs (mRNAs), but with different kinetics. AT1-binding site...

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) may exert pleiotropic effects on vascular cells independent of lowering plasma cholesterol. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in these effects, we investigated the impact of statins on production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC). Exposure of VSMC to angiotensin II ...

AIM To determine the role of AT1 receptor in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) in mediating the blunted baroreceptor reflex in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). METHODS Intravenous injections of graded doses of phenylephrine (1, 5, 10, 20, and 40 microg/kg) increased the blood pressure to elicit the baroreceptor reflex in both SHR and normotensive Wistar rats anesthetized with ure...

While the molecular structures of angiotensin II (Ang II) type 1 (AT1) receptor blockers (ARBs) are very similar, they are also slightly different. Although each ARB has been shown to exhibit a unique mode of binding to AT1 receptor, different positions of the AT1 receptor have been analyzed and computational modeling has been performed using different crystal structures for the receptor as a t...

Lung vessel muscularization during hypoxic pulmonary hypertension is associated with local renin-angiotensin system activation. The expression of angiotensin II (Ang II) AT1 and AT2 receptors in this setting is not well known and has never been investigated during normoxia recovery. We determined both chronic hypoxia and normoxia recovery patterns of AT1 and AT2 expression and distal musculariz...

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that women with a history of preeclampsia have a two-fold increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in later life. It is not known whether or not this risk is associated with angiotensin II receptor type 1 autoantibody (AT1-AA), an agonist acting via activation of AT1 receptor (AT1R), which is believed to be involved in the pathogenesis of pr...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Blockade of angiotensin II AT1 receptors in cerebral microvessels protects against brain ischemia and inflammation. In this study, we tried to clarify the presence and regulation of the local renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in brain microvessels in hypertension. METHODS Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar Kyoto (WKY) controls were treated with an AT1 recepto...

To investigate the role of the renin-angiotensin system in the regulation of adrenal growth in deoxycorticosterone (DOC)-salt hypertensive rats, and the adrenal gene expression of angiotensin AT1 and AT2 receptors, three groups of uninephrectomized rats + DOC pellet + 0.9% NaCl were given water (DOC), losartan (DOC-L), or ramipril (DOC-R) by gavage. Controls had sham surgery and water gavage. T...

Questionable Role of the Angiotensin II Receptor Subtype 1 Autoantibody in the Pathogenesis of Preeclampsia To the Editor: Other than its critical role in cardiovascular and fluid homeostasis, several lines of evidence connect the renin–angiotensin system with hypertensive pregnancy disorders. Recent findings further support the key role of the renin–angiotensin system in the etiology of pregna...

As early as 20 weeks of gestation, preeclamptic women develop new-onset hypertension with proteinuria and display increased circulating factors, ranging from metabolic and proinflammatory to antiangiogenic in nature. These factors have been shown in various experimental models to possibly contribute to the development of hypertension in response to placental ischemia.1–4 A major focus of preecl...