Richard N. Re – författare

How exciting it is to see a field so well established as the ren- angiotensin system continue to grow and mature. Originally, following the original identification of renin by Tigerstedt and Bergman over 100 years ago, workers in this area spent years attempting to establish its role in experimental and renal hypertension. The early work by Goldblatt, in 1934, demonstrated that the placement of a clip around a renal artery was clearly related to the subsequent development of hypertension. However, it wasn''t until the simultaneous finding by two different geographically separated teams, Page, et al, in the United States and Braun-Menendez, et al, in Argentina that the peptide angiotensin was identified. Thus, the rate-limiting enzyme renin was released from the kidney and catalyzed a biochemical cascade which was eventually shown to produce the elevated arterial pressure. Subsequently, many workers contributed to the elucidation of the concept and sequence of angiotensin I1 generation. Thus, the enzyme renin acted upon its protein substrate, produced in the liver, to liberate the decapeptide angiotensin I which, upon circulating through the pulmonary circulation, finally produced the potent octapeptide angiotensin. Several important subsequent findings demonstrated that angiotensin I1 promoted the release of the adrenal corticosteroid from that gland, thereby resulting in a larger system, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Further, this system demonstrated a classical biofeedback and the circulating octapeptide was shown to have additional biological activities in organs other than heart, vessels, kidney, adrenals, and even brain.

With great pleasure we present our Third International Workshop on The Local C- diac Renin–Angiotensin–Aldosterone System (RAAS), held at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in November 2008. When this meeting was rst organized in 2002, we were pleased that all who were invited to participate in our rst workshop attended our program; and what is most satisfying, all of these participants returned for the second and this, the third workshop. In addition, we are delighted that a number of additional workers in this growing eld of investigation joined us for this third program. Over the years since our rst workshop, there is little doubt as to the existence of a local RAAS in the heart. Indeed, there is substantial evidence as to the existence of other local systems in brain, vessels, adrenal, and, as presented in the current workshop, the kidneys. What is even more stimulating intellectually, through dup- cation of local RAAS systems a remarkable yin-yang biological balance is provided by nature. Thus, in the current third workshop considerable evidence has accu- lated over the years for complicated local systems that serve to provide exquisite and unique local control of local organ functions.

With great pleasure we present our Third International Workshop on The Local C- diac Renin–Angiotensin–Aldosterone System (RAAS), held at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in November 2008. When this meeting was rst organized in 2002, we were pleased that all who were invited to participate in our rst workshop attended our program; and what is most satisfying, all of these participants returned for the second and this, the third workshop. In addition, we are delighted that a number of additional workers in this growing eld of investigation joined us for this third program. Over the years since our rst workshop, there is little doubt as to the existence of a local RAAS in the heart. Indeed, there is substantial evidence as to the existence of other local systems in brain, vessels, adrenal, and, as presented in the current workshop, the kidneys. What is even more stimulating intellectually, through dup- cation of local RAAS systems a remarkable yin-yang biological balance is provided by nature. Thus, in the current third workshop considerable evidence has accu- lated over the years for complicated local systems that serve to provide exquisite and unique local control of local organ functions.

With great pleasure we present our Third International Workshop on The Local C- diac Renin–Angiotensin–Aldosterone System (RAAS), held at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in November 2008. When this meeting was rst organized in 2002, we were pleased that all who were invited to participate in our rst workshop attended our program; and what is most satisfying, all of these participants returned for the second and this, the third workshop. In addition, we are delighted that a number of additional workers in this growing eld of investigation joined us for this third program. Over the years since our rst workshop, there is little doubt as to the existence of a local RAAS in the heart. Indeed, there is substantial evidence as to the existence of other local systems in brain, vessels, adrenal, and, as presented in the current workshop, the kidneys. What is even more stimulating intellectually, through dup- cation of local RAAS systems a remarkable yin-yang biological balance is provided by nature. Thus, in the current third workshop considerable evidence has accu- lated over the years for complicated local systems that serve to provide exquisite and unique local control of local organ functions.