Biomedical subjects

T Inagami

Publications and source records attributed to T Inagami.

479 records · Page 27Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Atrial natriuretic peptide correlates with pulmonary arterial pressure and cardiac output.

Correlations between plasma atrial natriuretic polypeptide (ANP) levels and hemodynamic parameters were studied in the central circulation of 12 patients with angina pectoris. The average plasma ANP level determined in the aorta was found to be 619 +/- 140 pg/ml. The plasma ANP levels showed a significant positive correlation with mean pulmonary arterial (PA) pressure, right ventricular pressure, and with cardiac index. In contrast, there was no significant correlation between plasma ANP levels and other hemodynamic variables including atrial pressure. These results suggest that hemodynamics other than the atrial pressure may have some role in modulating ANP secretion in certain pathological states.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Structure of rat atrial natriuretic factor precursor deduced from cDNA sequence.

The atrium of the heart contains peptides, termed atrial natriuretic factors ( ANFs ), diuretic and smooth-muscle-relaxing activities. In view of its potent effects on salt metabolism in the kidney and on vascular smooth muscle, ANF is considered to play an important part in the control of fluid volume and vascular function. Several different ANF peptides varying in size have been isolated and their amino acid sequences determined. Analysis of the sequences of the peptides suggests that they are derived by proteolysis from the same precursor. To examine this hypothesis, we have cloned cDNAs of the ANF precursor using rat atrial mRNA, determined its nucleotide sequence and deduced its amino acid sequence. The ANF precursor consists of 152 amino acid residues including a putative signal peptide sequence. This sequence contains the amino acid sequences of all the ANF peptides reported to date.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Kinetic studies of rat renin and tonin on purified rat angiotensinogen.

Kinetic studies of highly purified rat renin and rat tonin on completely purified angiotensinogen and angiotensin-tetradecapeptide synthetic renin substrate were performed. The Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) for renin, determined at the optimum pH, was 2.8 +/- 0.03 microM for angiotensinogen and 28.8 +/- 2.69 microM for angiotensin-tetradecapeptide renin substrate. The Km of purified rat tonin was determined as 0.66 +/- 0.18 microM for angiotensinogen and 2.33 +/- 0.42 microM for angiotensin tetradecapeptide. In comparison with renin, tonin shows higher affinity with respect to angiotensinogen, but the turnover number of natural substrate molecules observed with renin (0.87 s-1) is more than 3700 times higher than that of tonin (2.3 X 10(-4) s-1). Renin shows higher affinity to angiotensin tetradecapeptide than tonin, but similar turnover numbers of 2.8 and 10.0 s-1 are observed for hydrolysis of angiotensin tetradecapeptide by renin and tonin, respectively.

Angiotensinogen↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Isolation and activation of inactive renin from human kidney and plasma. Plasma and renal inactive renins have different molecular weights.

Inactive renin and active renin from human kidney and human plasma were prepared in highly purified forms by three steps of chromatography on Octyl-Sepharose, immunoaffinity chromatography, and pepstatin-amino hexyl Sepharose CL-4B. The inactive renin and active renin from human kidney had molecular weights of 51,000 and 44,000 as measured by a calibrated gel filtration column run with internal molecular weight standards. Molecular weights of plasma inactive renin and active renin were 56,000 and 51,000 respectively. Both inactive and active renins were found to be heterogeneous, consisting of several components with different isoelectric points. Renal inactive renin has higher pI values of 6.40, 6.10, 5.90, 5.61, and 5.40. Renal active renin has pI values of 5.73, 5.40, 5.25, and 5.13. The pI values of plasma inactive renin were 6.37, 6.08, 5.77, 5.36, and 5.25; of plasma active renin, 5.68, 5.40, 5.33, and 5.25. Trypsin activation and plasmin activation of plasma inactive renin produced an active enzyme with similar molecular weight but lower pI values. Acid activation of inactive renin did not change the molecular weight and pI values.

Chromatography, Affinity↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A new form of inactive renin in rat brain. A latent renin.

A new inactive (latent) form of renin was found in rat brain extract. It is activated by sulfhydryl compounds such as dithiothreitol but not by proteases such as trypsin. The activated form of latent renin in crude brain extract was again inactivated by the disulfide compound sodium tetrathionate. Latent renin was separated, at least partially, from active renin by affinity chromatography on Affi-Gel Blue. In contrast to a marked (10-fold) increase of latent renin by dithiothreitol, the enzyme activity of active renin was increased by less than 50% by this sulfhydryl compound. Thus, the major part of the activating effect of dithiothreitol does not seem to be due to its effect on renin substrate. Latent renin showed affinity for pepstatin-Sepharose gel. These properties indicate that latent renin is different from inactive renin of the zymogen type, which is activated by protease or acid treatment but not by sulfhydryl compounds and does not show affinity to pepstatin. Latent renin has a molecular weight of 45,000 and is reduced to 34,000 upon activation by dithiothreitol. This observation suggests that latent renin may be a renin-inhibitor complex.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Application of immunochemical methods to the identification and characterization of rat kidney inactive renin.

Identification of inactive prorenin in the kidney has been difficult due to rapid proteolytic conversion of the inactive zymogen to its active form in the tissue or during homogenization and purification. Immunochemical methods, Western blotting, direct radioimmunoassay, and immunoaffinity chromatography were used to isolate and identify rat kidney renin and prorenin and to determine their molecular weights without complete purification. Antisera to pure rat renin were raised in rabbits. A specific reaction between the antisera and rat renin was demonstrated by double immunodiffusion, inhibition of enzyme activity, and competitive radioimmunoassay. The anti-rat renin IgG did not cross-react with purified human renin or rat spleen or kidney cathepsin D. The IgG showed binding affinity to both inactive renin as well as active enzyme. A combination of affinity chromatographies consisting of pepstatin-Sepharose, IgG-Sepharose, and Affi-Gel Blue permitted rapid and complete separation of inactive renin from active renin in rat kidney extract. Neither inactive nor active renin preparations exhibited aspartyl protease activity on hemoglobin used as substrate. The apparent molecular weight of inactive renin was estimated as 50,000 by gel filtration. Electrophoresis of partially purified inactive renin in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel followed by transblotting of proteins to a nitrocellulose sheet and immunochemical staining with anti-renin IgG showed a single protein band with a molecular weight of 48,000. Activation of inactive renin by trypsin was accompanied by the reduction of the 48,000-dalton native protein to a 39,000-dalton protein as determined by the SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the transblotting.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A high level of CCAAT-enhancer binding protein-delta expression is a major determinant for markedly elevated differential gene expression of the platelet-derived growth factor-alpha receptor in vascular smooth muscle cells of genetically hypertensive rats.

-Platelet-derived growth factor-alpha receptor (PDGF-alphaR) expression is markedly elevated in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) when compared with normotensive rat strains, Sprague-Dawley, Wistar, and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). This "almost-all-or-none" type of differential expression strongly suggests that PDGF-alphaR or its transcription-regulating mechanisms or factors are significantly related to genetic hypertension. To evaluate the role of PDGF-alphaR in vascular remodeling and hypertension, we have investigated the underlying molecular mechanism. We have recently shown that the regulatory domain responsible for this difference is localized to the PDGF-alphaR promoter region between -246 and -139, which contains an enhancer core sequence specific for CCAAT-enhancer binding proteins (C/EBPs). We defined the roles of this element for hypertensive strain-specific PDGF-alphaR gene transcription. DNA-protein binding studies by competition in electromobility shift and supershift assays revealed that 2 members, C/EBP-beta and C/EBP-delta, are mainly responsible for DNA-protein complex formation; the former acts as a transcriptional repressor and the latter as an activator of the PDGF-alphaR gene, respectively. Western or Northern blot analyses supported evidence for high expression of C/EBP-delta seen only in SHR-derived VSMCs. Furthermore, forced expression of C/EBP-delta transactivated the transcriptional efficiency of the PDGF-alphaR gene even in WKY-derived VSMCs, whereas that of C/EBP-beta had an opposite effect in SHR-derived VSMCs. These findings indicate that differential expression of members of the C/EBP family, mainly C/EBP-delta and possibly C/EBP-beta, are responsible for the strain-specific gene transcription of PDGF-alphaR in VSMCs.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitors in rat urine: origins and physiological significance.

To identify the origins and structures of mammalian tissue-derived Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitors, we investigated the tissue distribution of inhibitors in rats. Among many tissues tested, urine was found to contain high levels of many inhibitors. The structures of the two major inhibitors were identified as neoconvalloside and periplogenin monorhamnoside, which are derivatives of strophanthidin. Urinary levels of these inhibitors, however, decreased considerably after changing the diet from the regular diet to purified synthetic diet, suggesting that the majority of the urinary inhibitors are of dietary origin. Investigation of the ingredients of the diet further revealed that alfalfa meal and ground oats are the major sources of these cardiac glycosides. As to the physiological relevance of the cardiac glycosides, a low concentration (1-50 nM) of ouabain dose-dependently enhanced aldosterone secretion from adrenal glomerulosa cells by an increase in local renin release. Ouabain was also found to be involved in AT2 receptor-specific expression in rat PC12W cells through an increment in intracellular Na+. These results suggest that Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitors, regardless of the source, are involved in the regulation of blood pressure.

Aldosterone↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Immunoreactive renin in mouse adrenal gland. Localization in the inner cortical region.

The existence of renin in the adrenal gland of the mouse was determined by its enzymatic activity and by immunohistochemical techniques using monospecific antibodies to mouse submandibular gland renin. The adrenal gland of mouse was found to contain a very high level of renin significantly greater than other mouse tissues except for the kidney and submandibular gland. Also, the renin level in mouse adrenal was significantly higher than that in adrenals of other species. This renin activity was distinct from the nonspecific renin-like activity of acid proteases in that its activity was optimal at neutral pH and specifically inhibited by antirenin antibody. Adrenal renin increased upon nephrectomy indicating that it is not derived from the kidney. Immunohistochemical studies localized the renin-immunoreactive substance to cells in the inner region of the cortex. The intensity of staining was highest in the innermost region and decreased in cells in outer layers.

Adrenal Cortex↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Immunohistochemical evidence that angiotensins I and II are formed by intracellular mechanism in juxtaglomerular cells.

The existence of angiotensin II (AII) immunoreactivity in juxtaglomerular (JG) cells of rat kidney, which has been demonstrated previously by immunohistochemical studies, can be explained either as the product of intracellular synthesis or by the internalization of receptor-bound AII originating in plasma. To resolve these two alternative mechanisms, attempts were made to identify AI in JG cells of rat kidney by immunohistochemical staining using specific antibodies to AI. Although AI-like immunoreactivity was not detected in normal rat kidney, rats treated with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, MK-421 or captopril, showed AI-like immunoreactivity in JG cells. The presence of renin and AII-like immunoreactivity was demonstrated in the same cells by specific antibodies to respective antigens used on adjacent serial sections. These findings support an intracellular mechanism of the formation of AII and suggest an intracellular renin angiotensin system, presumably separate from the extracellular system.

Angiotensin I↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hyperplasia of juxtaglomerular cells and renin localization in kidney of normotensive animals given captopril. Electron microscopic and immunohistochemical studies.

Captopril, a competitive inhibitor of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE), is an orally potent antihypertensive agent. Light and electron microscopic studies of th kidneys of mice, rats, and monkeys given large oral doses of captopril for long duration were conducted. All mice and some rats and monkeys developed hyperplasia of the renin-secreting cells which appeared in several layers surrounding the vascular wall of the afferent arterioles. In the electron microscope, these epithelioid cells appeared heavily loaded with aggregates of homogeneous electron dense, osmiophilic amorphous granules filling distended spaces of the endoplasmic reticulum. The Golgi cisterns often included small, sharply outlined triangular or rhomboid osmiophilic granules. The use of specific renin antibodies and the application of the "three-layer bridge technique" for peroxidase-antiperoxidase defined and verified the accumulation of renin in the juxtaglomerular cells. After cessation of dosing, hyperplasia of the juxtaglomerular cells markedly regressed, and there was a significant reduction in the number and size of the renin granules in such cells.

Animals↗