Biochemical properties of renin in human pituitary tissue

Abstract

The biochemical properties of renin, extracted from human pituitary specimens obtained at autopsy, were studied using a specific antirenin antibody raised against human kidney renin. The following results were obtained. The molecular weight of pituitary renin was estimated to be about 37,000 daltons by gel filtration through Sephadex G-100. The optimum pH of pituitary renin was between 6.0 approximately 7.0, while that of a renin-like substance which did not react with the antirenin antibody had an acidic pH of 4.0, with a pH comparable to that of the cathepsin D-like enzyme in the pituitary tissue. The presence of two different isoelectric-point species of pituitary renin was revealed by isoelectric focusing, one with a point of pH 4.47 and the other with that of pH 5.77. The Km value of pituitary renin was 37.9 microM for synthetic human renin substrate. Affinity chromatography of the pituitary renin on a Concanavalin-Sepharose column showed that most (87.4%) of the pituitary renin did not contain glycoprotein residues. Treatment with either trypsin or glandular kallikrein increased the renin activity, indicating the presence of an inactive form of renin in the pituitary tissue. From these findings, it is concluded that specific renin exists in human pituitary tissue. It seems likely that the pituitary renin is of local origin rather than contamination of the circulating enzyme.