6A, Ang I nevertheless accumulates in the reaction medium (Fig. 6D). The CPA2-catalyzed conversion of Ang-(1-12) to Ang I proceeds through stepwise cleavage of C-terminal Tyr and Leu residues, as inferred from amino acid analysis of the respective reaction mixture (data not shown). All reactions

mediated by both rat MAB CPA1 and CPA2, shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, were fully inhibited by 10 μM PCI or 1.0 mM find more 1,10-phenanthroline but not by 20 μM soybean trypsin inhibitor (data not shown). The inherent difficulties of measuring initial velocities for enzyme reactions in which products are further processed prevented us from determining kinetic constants for CPA-catalyzed hydrolysis of all Ang peptides tested except Ang II. The results of Fig. 7 indicate that the catalytic efficiency for the CPA1-catalyzed Ang II to Ang-(1-7) conversion reaction is two orders of magnitude higher than that mediated by CPA2, as judged by the kcat/Km values for the respective reactions. It should be noted that

the rather small catalytic efficiency of CPA2 for the Ang II to Ang-(1-7) conversion reaction compelled the use of higher enzyme concentration, longer incubation times and larger reaction volumes, compared with the conditions described in Fig. 6B, in order to yield reliable initial velocity measurements for kinetic analysis presented in Fig. 7. The expression of EPZ-6438 cost CPA1 and CPA2 mRNAs in some rat tissues was investigated by RT-PCR using specific CPA1 and CPA2 primers described in Table 1 and total RNA extracted from the indicated tissues (Fig. 8). The PCR-amplified DNA fragments have sizes corresponding to those previously described for rat pancreatic preproCPA1, 1260 bp [27], and preproCPA2, 1254 bp [10]. No PCR products were detected when sterile water was a substitute for the respective cDNA in the reaction (not shown). CPA1 mRNA was highly expressed in mesentery, Rutecarpine pancreas, liver, lung and heart but was below

detection level in kidney, aorta and carotid artery. A marked expression for CPA2 mRNA was detected in mesentery, liver, lung, pancreas, heart and carotid artery, but an expression just above detection level in kidney and aorta. The rat MAB perfusate contains different proteases [22], among which carboxypeptidases that give rise to local bradykinin- and Ang-processing pathways [23] and [25]. Two of the rat MAB perfusate carboxypeptidases that act on Ang peptides were purified and structurally characterized in the present work, revealing that the mesenteric vasculature produces CPA1 and CPA2 that are identical with their pancreatic counterparts as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4, respectively.