Physiological elevation in plasma angiotensinogen increases blood pressure

Hepatic angiotensinogen secretion is controlled by a complex pattern of physiological or pathophysiological mediators. Because plasma concentrations of angiotensinogen are close to the Michaelis-Menten constant, it was hypothesized that changes in circulating angiotensinogen affect the formation rate of ANG I and ANG II and, therefore, blood pressure. To further test this hypothesis, we injected purified rat angiotensinogen intravenously in Sprague-Dawley rats via the femoral vein and measured mean arterial blood pressure after arterial catheterization. In controls, mean arterial pressure was 131 +/- 2 mmHg before and after the injection of vehicle (sterile saline). The injection of 0.8, 1.2, and 2.9 mg/kg angiotensinogen caused a dose-dependent increase in mean arterial blood pressure of 8 +/- 0.4, 19.3 +/- 2.1, and 32 +/- 2.4 mmHg, respectively. In contrast, the injection of a purified rabbit anti-rat angiotensinogen antibody (1.4 mg/kg) resulted in a significant decrease in mean arterial pressure (-33 +/- 3.2 mmHg). Plasma angiotensinogen increased to 769 +/- 32, 953 +/- 42, and 1,289 +/- 79 pmol/ml, respectively, after substrate and decreased by 361 +/- 28 pmol/ml after antibody administration. Alterations in plasma angiotensinogen correlated well with changes in plasma renin activity. In summary, variations in circulating angiotensinogen can result in changes in blood pressure. In contrast to renin, which is known as a tonic regulator for the generation of ANG I, angiotensinogen may be a factor rather important for long-term control of the basal activity of the renin-angiotensin system.