IN 1982, Vidt and colleagues reviewed the pharmacokinetics, mechanisms of action, and therapeutic usefulness of captopril, the first of a new class of antihypertensives, converting-enzyme inhibitor...

Converting-enzyme inhibitors in the treatment of hypertension.

Regulatory role of brain angiotensins in the control of physiological and behavioral responses.

Brain angiotensin receptor subtypes in the control of physiological and behavioral responses

Important roles for angiotensin III and IV in the brain renin-angiotensin system

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is one of the best-studied enzyme-neuropeptide systems in the brain and can serve as a model for the action of peptides on neuronal function in general. It is now well established that the brain has its own intrinsic RAS with all its components present in the central nervous system. The RAS generates a family of bioactive angiotensin peptides with variable biological and neurobiological activities. These include angiotensin-(1–8) [Ang II], angiotensin-(3–8) [Ang IV], and angiotensin-(1–7) [Ang-(1–7)]. These neuroactive forms of angiotensin act through specific receptors. Only Ang II acts through two different high-specific receptors, termed AT1 and AT2. Neuronal AT1 receptors mediate the stimulatory actions of Ang II on blood pressure, water and salt intake, and the secretion of vasopressin. In contrast, neuronal AT2 receptors have been implicated in the stimulation of apoptosis and as being antagonistic to AT1 receptors. Among the many potential effects mediated by stimulation of AT2 are neuronal regeneration after injury and the inhibition of pathological growth. Ang-(1–7) mediates its antihypertensive effects by stimulating the synthesis and release of vasodilator prostaglandins and nitric oxide and by potentiating the hypotensive effects of bradykinin. New data concerning the roles of Ang IV and Ang-(1–7) in cognition also support the existence of complex site-specific interactions between multiple angiotensins and multiple receptors in the mediation of important central functions of the RAS. Thus, the RAS of the brain is involved not only in the regulation of blood pressure, but also in the modulation of multiple additional functions in the brain, including processes of sensory information, learning, and memory, and the regulation of emotional responses.

The CNS renin-angiotensin system

The use of captopril, an inhibitor of angiotensin-converting enzyme and enkephalinase, was associated with substantial mood elevation in three depressed patients Substances that may alter neuropeptide synthesis or degradation warrant further investigation as therapeutic agents in certain neuropsychiatric disorders

R A Nixon

Papers

Mood-elevating effect of captopril in depressed patients