BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RENIN

The history of the renin angiotensin system (RAS) began in 1898 with the studies made by Tigerstedt, a Finnish professor of physiology working at the Karolinska Institute, and his assistant Bergman. They reported the pressor effect of renal extracts and named the renal substance renin based on its origin. After the first successful experiment performed by Goldblatt et al. in 1934 inducing the experimental hypertension in the dog by the partial constriction of the renal artery using a silver clip, their technique led to the discovery of the active polypeptide. Two research groups from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Eli Lilly Research Laboratories in Indianapolis working inde-pendently, simultaneously reached similar conclusions on this matter. In Buenos Aires, it was called hyper