Full Description
The first publications on the presence of renin, angiotensino gen and angiotensin-like material in brain tissue appeared about ten years ago. This coincided with the discovery of new biological actions of angiotensin in the brain and with the reinvestigation of already known central angiotensin effects. The possibility that angiotensin could be generated within the brain itself had therefore exciting implications. With the recent popularity of brain neuropeptides, interest in this area is even increasing. The discovery of renin-like activity as well as angiotensino gen and angiotensin in the brain has led, admittedly by inductive inference, to the hypothesis of the existence of a complete endogenous renin-angiotensin system in the brain.1 For several years there was ardent discussion whether such a renin angiotensin system existed in the brain or not. Inductive inference always contains "an irrational element or a creative intuition".2In view of the biological relevance of a brain angiotensin system, deductive testing of the hypothesis was a worthwhile scientific project taken up by a number of investigators As a matter of principle it is not given to science, to reach either truth or falsity, scientific statements can only attain contmous degrees of probability whose unat tamable upper and lower limits are truth or falsity. However, several of the early singular statements and results turned out to be reproducible and acceptable. The theory has thus so far passed its test and we have found no reason to discard it.
Contents
Renin and Converting Enzyme.- Minireview: The Brain Renin Angiotensin System 1982.- Pituitary Renin: Purification and Characterization.- Identification, Characterization and Evidence for Intraneuronal Function of Renin in the Brain and Neuroblastoma Cells.- Isolation and in Vivo Activity of Brain Renin from Mice and Men.- Isolation and Regulation of Brain Renin.- In Vitro and in Vivo Evidence for Angiotensin Generation in the Rat Brain by Endopeptidase Activity Distinct from Cathepsin D.- Properties and Subcellular Localization of Brain Renin and Its Substrate.- Immunocytochemical Demonstration of Renin and Converting Enzyme in Rat and Mouse Brain.- Brain Converting Enzyme and Hypertension.- Brain Angiotensin Converting Enzyme, Plasma Beta-Endorphin and Thyrotropin in New Zealand and Japanese Genetically Hypertensive Rats.- Angiotensinogen, Angiotensin, Angiotensin Receptors.- Evidence for a Functional, Independent Brain-Angiotensin System: Correlation Between Regional Distribution of Brain Angiotensin Receptors, Brain Angiotensinogen and Drinking During the Estrous Cycle of Rats.- A Comparison of Human Renin Substrate in Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid.- Regulation of Angiotensinogen in Cerebrospinal Fluid and Plasma.- Definite Evidence for the Presence of (Ile5)-Angiotensin I and (Ile5)-Angiotensin II in the Brain of Rats.- Immunocytochemical Demonstration of Angiotensin II and Renin-Like Immunoreactive Nerve Cells in the Hypothalamus. Angiotensin Peptides as Comodulators in Vasopressin and Oxytocin Neurons and Their Regulation of Various Types of Central Catecholamine Nerve Terminal Systems.- Brain Angiotensin II Receptors.- Brain Angiotensin II Receptors: Possible Physiological Implications.- Angiotensin and Single Neurons.- Effects of Angiotensin and Bradykinin on Neurons of the Sensomotor Cortex.- The Brain Renin Angiotensin System: Some Unresolved Problems.- Central Effects of Angiotensin.- Cardiovascular and Humoral Effects of Endogenous Brain Angiotensin.- Centrally Administered Angiotensin Antagonists in Hypertensive Rats.- Contribution of Vasopressin and Renal Nerves to the Natriuresis Evoked by Centrally Administered Renin or Angiotensin.- Possible Functions of Brain Renin.- Central and Peripheral Mechanisms Mediating Angiotensin-lnduced Thirst.- Effects of Central Angiotensin on Renin Release from the Kidney.- Nomenclature of the Renin-Angiotensin System.- Nomenclature of Experimental Hypertension.- Author Index.
