**The Angiotensin Affair: How Great Minds Thinking Alike Came to a Historical Agreement**

Matilde Otero‐Losada, Mariana H. Nobile and José Milei

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/67136

### **Abstract**

In 1934, J. C. Fasciolo had to submit a thesis and Dr. Houssay suggested he investigate about nephrogenic hypertension. E. Braun‐Menéndez showed interest in helping and Drs. L.F. Leloir and J.M. Muñoz from the Institute of Physiology joined them in their attempt to isolate and purify the pressor substance. In 1939, they extracted the substance "hyper‐ tension" from the venous blood from the ischemic kidneys. They proposed an enzyme‐ substrate reaction. They named hypertensinogen the substrate and hypertensinases the enzymes that break down the hypertension. Two months following the Argentine publica‐ tion, the team in the United States, formed by I.H. Page and O.M. Helmer, published their findings, which were in agreement with those reported by the Argentine team. By 1940, they isolated angiotonin, the equivalent of hypertension, and called the renin substrate hypertensinogen. In 1957, in the conference held in Ann Arbor, Braun‐Menéndez and Page agreed on a new nomenclature. As a result, the words angiotensinogen and angio‐ tensin were born from the combination of the names originally set by both teams. The discovery of the renin‐angiotensin system is an example that science should follow: Value the progress made by colleagues, collaborate side by side, and pursue the ultimate truth.

**Keywords:** angiotensin discovery, hypertension, renal disease, renin‐angiotensin system, vasoconstriction, blood pressure, kidney ischemia, renal grafting

### **1. Introduction**

A systematic review of both autobiographical and biographical documentation is provided, concerning with original experiments that change the course of hypertension treatment, along with a chronology of the major events which led to angiotensin discovery. This historical hit marked the evolution of antihypertensive treatment and later on gave rise to the development

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of a whole new family of drugs, the angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). At present, their main uses are in the treatment of hypertension, diabetic nephropathy, and congestive heart failure. By now, annual global sales of renin‐angiotensin inhibitor drugs are estimated around US\$ 27.3 billion, 24% in Europe. Actually, much of these come from single‐sourced angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs).
