Angiotensin converting anzyme (ACE) activity in porcine ocular tissue: effects of diet and ACE inhibitors.

The aim of the present experiments was to determine angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) activity in different parts of the porcine eye, and to examine whether an atherogenic diet influenced ACE activity. Female mini-pigs were fed a standard diet or a diet with high cholesterol to produce atherosclerosis. The animals were killed by an overdose of pentobarbital, and the eyes were enucleated and dissected into iris, ciliary body, retina, and choroid. Crude tissue homogenates were used for determination of ACE activity, which was done with a radioenzymatic assay. In pigs fed a normal diet, basal ACE activity was 18.1 +/- 1.6, 13.6 +/- 1.9, 4.4 +/- 0.6, and 44.7 +/- 8.5 units/mg for iris, ciliary body, retina, and choroid, respectively. The ACE activities in ocular tissues from the pigs that had been fed an atherogenic diet were not significantly different. Nor was the ACE activity in the abdominal aorta and serum significantly different between the two groups. In both groups, the ACE inhibitors captopril and enalaprilat, caused a significant inhibition of the ACE activity in the choroid and ciliary body, with enalaprilat being more potent. In the retina, ACE activity was inhibited significantly only in the group fed a normal diet, whereas ACE activity in the iris was not significantly inhibited in either group. We did not find any differences in ACE activity between pigs fed a normal diet and pigs fed an atherogenic diet, which is in disagreement with previous studies that showed an increased ACE activity in aorta from atherosclerotic mini-pigs. The reason for this discrepancy is not clear, but lower cholesterol levels are one possibility.