Prorenin, the precursor of renin, has for a long time been considered to be functionally inert, despite high circulating concentrations. Plasma levels of prorenin usually exceed renin levels and are even further increased under pathological conditions, such as in diabetes. First support of a functional significance of prorenin came from studies in transgenic rats, which overexpress a renin gene...

Renin is synthesized in the principal cells of the collecting duct (CD), and its production is increased via cAMP in angiotensin (ANG) II-dependent hypertension, despite suppression of juxtaglomerular (JG) renin. Vasopressin, one of the effector hormones of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) via the type 2-receptor (V2R), activates the cAMP/PKA/cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) pathw...

The physiological role of prorenin is unknown; however, the possibility that prorenin inhibits renin locally has been suggested. We tested the hypothesis that prorenin may be an endogenous competitor for renin uptake in the tissue. We also investigated whether prorenin can be activated to active renin and affect mean arterial pressure (MAP). Isolated perfused hindquarters of rats transgenic for...

Mannose-6-phosphate (man-6-P)/insulin-like growth factor-II (man-6-P/IgF-II) receptors are involved in the activation of recombinant human prorenin by cardiomyocytes. To investigate the kinetics of this process, the nature of activation, the existence of other prorenin receptors, and binding of native prorenin, neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were incubated with recombinant, renal, or amniotic flui...

Human prorenin is the enzymatically inactive biosynthetic precursor of renin. Recent interest has focused on the posttranslational sorting and processing of prorenin to renin since markedly increased levels of circulating prorenin have been associated with both physiological and pathological changes. These observations raise the question of whether prorenin processing may be a regulatory event ...