Use of a biological peptide pump to study chronic peptide hormone action in transgenic mice. Direct and indirect effects of angiotensin II on the heart.
Angiotensin II is a peptide hormone regulator of blood pressure and fluid balance in mammals. Evidence obtained largely in vitro has also suggested that angiotensin II has growth-promoting effects and that it might thereby contribute to such pathological phenomena as cardiac hypertrophy, a major risk factor for cardiovascular mortality. It has been difficult to test for the direct growth-promoting effects of angiotensin II in vivo, however, because of the generalized effects of the peptide on hemodynamics. To overcome this limitation and to test for cardiac-specific functions of angiotensin II, we generated transgenic mice expressing an angiotensin II-producing fusion protein exclusively in cardiac myocytes. Our findings are the first to distinguish between local and systemic effects of angiotensin II on the heart and introduce a novel technique for studying tissue-specific peptide function.
van Kats
J P
JP
Laboratory of Molecular Biochemistry of Hypertension, Clinical Research Institute of Montréal, Québec H2W 1R7, Canada.
Methot
D
D
Paradis
P
P
Silversides
D W
DW
Reudelhuber
T L
TL
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000804:Angiotensin II / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D006321:Heart / Q000187:drug effects*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009929:Organ Size; D010455:Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D021381:Protein Transport
D010455:Peptides; D000804:Angiotensin II