Regulated systemic activation of rat plasma prorenin.

Nephrectomized rats have above-normal plasma prorenin levels, presumably of extra-renal origin, but essentially no renin, suggesting a lack of "convertase" for prorenin activation. Adrenalectomized rats have low plasma prorenin levels accompanied by high renin activity, suggesting enhanced prorenin activation by the action of a stimulated "convertase" mechanism. Cross-circulation between adrenalectomized and nephrectomized rats for 15 or 30 minutes, dramatically lowered prorenin and raised renin levels in both types of rats, suggesting extensive activation of prorenin to renin. Similarly, in vitro mixing of these bloods (without cross-circulation) raised renin activity over five times the expected calculated level, while prorenin essentially disappeared. In both cases, prorenin from nephrectomized rat plasma apparently was activated to renin by the enhanced action of "convertase" in the adrenalectomized rat plasma. This newly generated renin activity was, like normal plasma renin, almost completely inhibited by a monoclonal antibody against hog renin and generated an immunoreactive angiotensin I. In contrast, cross-circulation or in vitro mixing of blood from normal control and nephrectomized rats produced little detectable activation of prorenin and only modest increments of renin, suggesting relative inactivity of the "convertase" mechanism in normal plasma. Our data suggest that activation of plasma prorenin is a significant regulated pathway for renin production, as it is greatly stimulated after adrenalectomy and deficient after nephrectomy, thereby implicating the kidney as an important contributor to the "convertase" mechanism operating within the circulation.