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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 93/5/519    most recent expphysiol.2008.042002v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Santos, R. A. S. Articles by Simões e Silva, A. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Santos, R. A. S. Articles by Simões e Silva, A. C. Related Collections Review Articles Cardiovascular control

Departments of ¹ Physiology and Biophysics² Morphology³ Pediatrics, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31.270-901, Brazil

In the past few years, the classical concept of the renin–angiotensin system (RAS) has experienced substantial conceptual changes. The identification of: the renin/prorenin receptor; the angiotensin-converting enzyme homologue, ACE2, as an angiotensin peptide-processing enzyme and a virus receptor for severe acute respiratory syndrome, the Mas as a receptor for angiotensin (1–7) [Ang(1–7)], and the possibility of signaling through ACE have contributed to switch our understanding of the RAS from the classical limited-proteolysis linear cascade to a cascade with multiple mediators, multiple receptors and multifunctional enzymes. With regard to Ang(1–7), the identification of ACE2 and of Mas as a receptor implicated in its actions contributed to decisively establish this heptapeptide as a biologically active member of the RAS cascade. In this review, we will focus on the recent findings related to the ACE2–Ang(1–7)–Mas axis and, in particular, on its putative role as an ACE–Ang II–AT₁ receptor counter-regulatory axis within the RAS.

(Received 8 January 2008; accepted after revision 26 February 2008; first published online 29 February 2008)
Corresponding author: R. A. S. Santos: Departamento de Fisiologia e Biofísica, Avenida Antônio Carlos, 6627 – ICB – UFMG, 31 270-901 – Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil. Email: marrob{at}dedalus.lcc.ufmg.br