Peptide inhibitors of converting enzyme

Plasma kinin concentration in deoxycorticosterone-salt hypertension

We investigated the status of circulating kinins in rats with severe hypertension caused by drinking 1% NaCl (saline) and treatment with deoxycorticosterone (DOC, 25 mg/kg/wk s.c.) for 5 weeks. Saline-drinking rats treated with DOC had a higher systolic blood pressure (210 +/- 4 mm Hg) than did rats without DOC treatment drinking water (138 +/- 3 mm Hg) or saline (141 +/- 3 mm Hg). The concentration of kinins in the inferior vena cava plasma of DOC-salt hypertensive rats did not differ from the venous plasma kinin concentration in normotensive rats drinking water or saline. In contrast, the arterial plasma kinin concentration in DOC-salt hypertensive rats (7.0 +/- 0.8 pg/ml) was lower (p less than 0.002) than that in water-drinking controls (14.0 +/- 2.2 pg/ml); it also was lower (p less than 0.005) in saline-drinking rats (8.1 +/- 0.9 pg/ml) than in water-drinking controls. Infusion of bradykinin (20 micrograms/kg/min i.v.) increased arterial plasma kinins in all the groups. Nonetheless, the arterial plasma kinin concentration achieved during bradykinin infusion in DOC-salt hypertensive (1590 +/- 130 pg/ml) and in saline-drinking rats (1540 +/- 100 pg/ml) was lower than that in water-drinking rats (2140 +/- 210 pg/ml). On the other hand, during infusion of the kininase II inhibitor captopril (80 micrograms/hr i.p.) for 3 days, neither DOC-salt hypertensive rats nor saline-drinking normotensive rats exhibited significant reduction of arterial plasma kinins relative to the level in water-drinking controls. These data indicate that high salt intake, irrespective of the level of blood pressure, causes the arterial plasma concentration of kinins to fall.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Studies of the digestion of bradykinin, Lys-bradykinin, and des-Arg9-bradykinin by angiotensin converting enzyme

We have studied the degradation of bradykinin, lysyl bradykinin and des-Arg9-bradykinin by the angiotensin converting enzyme. Bradykinin was cleaved at two sites to produce the pentapeptide Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe plus dipeptides Ser-Pro and Phe-Arg. Lysyl bradykinin was cleaved similarly to release the same dipeptides plus the hexapeptide Lys-Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe. The tripeptidase activity of ACE was observed when des-Arg9-bradykinin was digested. A single cleavage yielded the above pentapeptide plus Ser-Pro-Phe. Although des-Arg9-bradykinin was the most rapidly digested, when mixtures of des-Arg9-bradykinin and bradykinin or lysyl bradykinin were tested, virtually all of the bradykinin and most of the lysyl bradykinin was digested prior to the onset of digestion of des-Arg9-bradykinin. This was shown to be due to inhibition of des-Arg9-bradykinin cleavage by kinins and kinin-degradation products. The order in terms of potency was bradykinin greater than lysyl bradykinin greater than Ser-Pro much greater than Phe-Arg greater than Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe. The concentration of chloride ion was an important parameter which affected the rate of digestion of each substrate examined. des-Arg9-bradykinin was not digested by ACE in the absence of sodium chloride and the rate of digestion increased as the chloride concentration was increased to 100-150 mM. On the other hand, increasing NaCl concentration was inhibitory for bradykinin digestion. The rate of Lys-bradykinin digestion was increased from 0 to 1 mM NaCl and decreased thereafter up to physiologic concentration. A half-maximal rate was seen at 100-150 mM NaCl compared to no salt. Of the divalent cations examined, cupric ion inhibited further digestion of des-Arg9-bradykinin at physiologic concentrations. Our data indicate that the rate of degradation of kinins and the nature of the stable final cleavage products in plasma or serum (studied in vitro) are dependent upon the effects of chloride ion, metal ions, and the kinetic effects of multiple metabolites produced by at least two kininases.