Development of a model of human renin-dependent hypertension in the rat.

The effective development of human renin inhibitors meets its major obstacle in the absence of a suitable experimental rodent model and the species-specificity of human renin, exclusively cleaving its natural substrate human angiotensinogen. We have reconstructed the human renin-angiotensin system in transgenic rats over expressing the human angiotensinogen gene TGR(hAOGEN) 1623 by chronically injecting i.v. human recombinant renin. We have first established new in vitro enzyme kinetic techniques to measure the various components of the chimeric renin-angiotensin system and distinguished the two human and rat-specific pathways of generating angiotensin 1 by the human specific renin inhibitor Ro 42-5892 (Hoffmann-La Roche). Male heterozygous TGR had plasma levels of rat angiotensinogen of 1.2 +/- 0.2 mg Ang l/ml while the plasma levels of the transgene were 141 +/- 98 mg Ang l/ml (n = 41; not normally distributed). Transgene expression was found in the liver kidney, aorta, heart and adrenals. Four rats were infused i.v. with human recombinant renin at 50 ng/h over 9 days which chronically increased their blood pressure to > 200 mmHg while total plasma renin activity increased by a factor of 300. Rat renin disappeared form the plasma. This new model of experimental human renin-induced hypertension in rats will facilitate the screening and characterization of human renin inhibitors.