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Mast Cells: The Missing Source of Cardiac Renin?

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322

SUMMARY

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) acts to regulate blood volume and arterial pressure, and has direct effects on the heart. Renin, released by the kidney, circulates and acts—in the rate-limiting step of angiotensin II (Ang II) production—to convert angiotensinogen to inactive angiotensin I (Ang I). Ang II constricts vessels, leading to increased arterial pressure, among other effects. Components of the RAS have been found in a number of extra-renal tissues. Recent research indicates that mast cells in the heart may produce renin, creating a cardiac-specific RAS that acts locally to produce Ang II. These results, however, are not without controversy. Others have searched for sites of renin production and have found no other significant source that was physiologically important or that could not be completely ruled out as a possible contaminant. How important is mast cell–synthesized renin for direct cardiac-related effects?