A KINETIC ANALYSIS OF THE RENIN-ANGIOTONIN PRESSOR SYSTEM AND THE STANDARDIZATION OF THE ENZYMES RENIN AND ANGIOTONASE

The physicochemical background of the renal vasporessor system (renin-renin-substrate, angiotinin, angiotonase) is given. The formation and destruction of angiotonin is shown to consist of two consecutive reactions, both of which follow the laws of first order kinetics. Each reaction was studied separately and its reaction constant found to be proportional to the enzyme concentration. Hence these constants should be used to express the activity of the enzymes, renin and angiotonase. The over-all reaction of a mixture of renin and angiotonase such as occurs in kidney extracts with the alpha-globulin fraction of serum, viz., rapid increase followed by a slow decline in angiotonin concentration, was found experimentally to correspond closely to the theoretical values calculated for such a reaction. The curve obtained also satisfyingly explains the characteristic pressor response to the intravenous injection of renin. An accurate method for the determination of renin in the presence of angiotonase is presented.