Myocardial enzymatic activity of renin and cathepsin D before and after bilateral nephrectomy

A local renin-angiotensin system is present within the myocardium and can play a role in the initiation and maintenance of cardiac hypertrophy. The source of myocardial renin may be direct cardiac renin gene expression, or plasma renin of renal origin. A primary indication that myocardial renin is derived from plasma renin of renal origin was from work showing that cardiac renin activity was no longer detected 30 hours after bilateral nephrectomy (BNX). However, more recent studies have been able to detect myocardial renin after BNX.