Human renin-dependent hypertension in rats transgenic for human angiotensinogen

To examine the utility of rats transgenic for human angiotensinogen in the study of human renin-induced hypertension, we first developed assays to measure both the human and rat renin-angiotensin systems in these rats. We used human and mouse renin, transgenic human angiotensinogen, and the human renin inhibitor Ro 42-5892 to determine human- and rat-specific plasma angiotensinogen concentrations, renin activity, and renin concentration. The assays were validated with rat and human plasma mixed in known amounts and with plasma from rats transgenic for human renin. We then tested the human angiotensinogen-transgenic rats by infusing recombinant human renin over 10 days (50 ng/h, n=4) with osmotic minipumps. High human angiotensinogen transgene expression was found in the liver, brain, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, and aorta, whereas rat angiotensinogen gene expression was detected in the liver and brain. During human renin infusion, blood pressure increased to >200/150 mm Hg. Before infusion, human angiotensinogen was 100-fold greater than rat angiotensinogen (141+/-73 versus 1.2+/-0.16 mu g angiotensin I/mL); the relation was not changed by renin infusion. Plasma renin activity increased 300-fold; human plasma renin concentration increased to very high levels (449+/-262 ng of angiotensin I per mL per hour), whereas rat plasma renin concentration decreased to undetectable levels. Thus, chronic human renin infusion resulted in severe hypertension with extreme plasma renin activity and plasma renin concentration. However, even at these levels, human angiotensinogen was not rate limiting and angiotensin II was not a significant stimulus for angiotensinogen production. We conclude that these transgenic rats represent a novel model of human renin-dependent hypertension.