History about the discovery of the renin-angiotensin system

Hypertension. 2001 Dec 1;38(6):1246-9. doi: 10.1161/hy1201.101214.

Abstract

The history of the discovery of the renin-angiotensin system began in 1898 with the studies made by Tigerstedt and Bergman, who reported the pressor effect of renal extracts; they named the renal substance renin based on its origin. In 1934, Harry Goldblatt induced experimental hypertension in dogs by clamping a renal artery. About 1936, simultaneously in the Medical School of the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in the Eli-Lilly Laboratories in Indianapolis, 2 independent groups of researchers, using the Goldblatt technique to produce experimental hypertension, demonstrated renal secretion of a pressor agent similar to renin. In the following years, both teams described the presence of a new compound in the renal vein blood of ischemic kidneys. This agent was extracted from blood with 70% acetone and had a short pressor effect. The final conclusion was that renin acted enzymatically on a plasma protein to produce the new substance. In Buenos Aires, it was called hypertensin; in the United States, angiotonin. In 1958, Eduardo Braun Menéndez from Argentina and Irving H. Page from the United States agreed to name it angiotensin.

Publication types

  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Angiotensins / history*
  • Animals
  • Argentina
  • History, 19th Century
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / history
  • Kidney Diseases / history
  • Renin / history*
  • Renin-Angiotensin System
  • Terminology as Topic
  • United States

Substances

  • Angiotensins
  • Renin