title: Total immunoreactive angiotensin ii, its hepta-octapeptide fraction, and its hexapeptide in patients with liver disease.
abstract: Arterial and venous plasma concentrations of total immunoreactive angiotensin II (AT II), its bioactive hepta-octapeptide fraction and its inactive hexapeptide were measured in normal subjects (n=16), in patients with acute viral hepatitis (n=12), and in treated (n=16) and untreated (n=17) patients with cirrhosis of the liver and ascites. Independent of normal or increased values of total immunoreactive AT II, the ratio between the hepta-octapeptides and the hexapeptide remained unchanged. This might indicate continuous octapeptide generation and balanced metabolite turnover throughout the systemic circulation. Moreover, a significant arterio-venous peptide gradient was lacking. It has to be concluded that total venous plasma AT II sufficiently reflects both the arterial hormone concentration and its major fraction of hepta-octapeptides in arterial (79%) and venous (76%) blood.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000804:Angiotensin II / Q000378:metabolism*; D001158:Arteries; D001201:Ascites / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000032:analysis; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000032:analysis*; D012083:Renin / Q000097:blood; D014680:Veins
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D000804:Angiotensin II; D012083:Renin