Partial purification of a prorenin activating enzyme in the aortic wall.

The presence of a prorenin activating enzyme in the blood vessel wall may have important physiological implications. The putative enzyme may be involved with the endogenous production of active renin (a key enzyme in the vascular renin angiotensin system) or with the activation of circulating prorenin which had been taken up into the vessel wall. This study demonstrates the existence of a putative prorenin activating enzyme in the bovine aorta. Partial purification and characterization of the enzyme are described.