Transgenic mice were generated containing a 1542-base pair fragment of the kidney androgen-regulated protein (KAP) promoter fused to the human angiotensinogen (HAGT) gene with the goal of specifically targeting inducible expression of renin-angiotensin system components to the kidney. High level expression of both KAP-HAGT and endogenous KAP mRNA was evident in the kidney of male mice from two independent transgenic lines. Renal expression of the transgene in female mice was undetectable under basal conditions but could be strongly induced by administration of testosterone. Testosterone treatment did not cause a transcriptional induction in any other tissues examined. However, an analysis of six androgen target tissues in males revealed that the transgene was expressed in epididymis. No other extra-renal expression of the transgene was detected. In situ hybridization demonstrated that expression of HAGT (and KAP) mRNA in males and testosterone-treated females was restricted to proximal tubule epithelial cells in the renal cortex. Although there was no detectable human angiotensinogen protein in plasma, it was evident in the urine, consistent with a pathway of synthesis in proximal tubule cells and release into the tubular lumen. These results demonstrate that 1542 base pairs of the KAP promoter is sufficient to drive expression of a heterologous reporter gene in a tissue-specific, cell-specific, and androgen-regulated fashion in transgenic mice.The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) 1 is a classical endocrine system activated by the release of renin from the kidney and angiotensinogen (AGT) from the liver. In blood, renin proteolytically cleaves AGT to form angiotensin I (Ang-I) which is further processed by angiotensin converting enzyme to form Ang-II, a potent vasoconstrictor and antinatriuretic peptide. The RAS has been implicated in the genetic basis of hypertension and pre-eclampsia (1-4). Our understanding of the RAS in normal and pathophysiological regulation of blood pressure has been complicated by the fact that in addition to its actions as an endocrine system, certain individual tissues, such as the kidney (5-7), heart (8, 9), brain (10), and vasculature (11), contain all the components of the RAS cascade and therefore have the potential for local synthesis and action of Ang-II. In the kidney, for example, renin, AGT and ACE mRNAs, and proteins are synthesized in juxtaglomerular cells, proximal convoluted tubule (PCT) cells, and endothelial and tubular cells, respectively, and Ang-II type-1 (AT-1) and type-2 (AT-2) receptors are localized in glomeruli, collecting ducts, tubules, and vasa recta (12-18). The intrarenal RAS has been postulated to regulate various aspects of renal function including blood flow, natriuresis, and tubular-glomerular feedback, and may therefore participate in the pathogenesis of hypertension (19 -21). Our current understanding of the relative importance of the intrarenal versus systemic RAS comes largely from pharmacological studies (22) which have been limited by the specificity...

We tested the hypothesis that the tissue-specific intrarenal renin-angiotensin system (RAS) can participate in the regulation of blood pressure independently of its endocrine counterpart, by generating two transgenic models that differ in their tissue-specific expression of human angiotensinogen (AGT). Human AGT expression was driven by its endogenous promoter in the systemic model and by the kidney androgen-regulated protein promoter in the kidney-specific model. Using molecular, biochemical, and physiological measurements, we demonstrate that human AGT mRNA and protein are restricted to the kidney in the kidney-specific model. Plasma ANG II was elevated in the systemic model but not in the kidney-specific model. Nevertheless, blood pressure was markedly elevated in both the systemic and kidney-specific transgenic mice. Acute administration of the selective ANG II AT-1 receptor antagonist losartan lowered blood pressure in the systemic model but not in the kidney-specific model. These results provide evidence for the potential importance of the intrarenal RAS in blood pressure regulation by showing that expression of AGT specifically in the kidney leads to chronic hypertension independently of the endocrine RAS.

Leydig cells, which produce the primary male steroid hormone testosterone (T), express the two estrogen receptor (ER) subtypes, ERalpha and ERbeta, and have the capacity to convert testosterone to the natural estrogen 17beta-estradiol. Thus, Leydig cells are subject to estrogen action. The development of transgenic mice that are homozygous for targeted deletion of genes encoding the ER subtypes provides an opportunity to examine the role of estrogen in Leydig cell function. In this study androgen biosynthesis was analyzed in Leydig cells from mice that were homozygous for targeted deletion of the ERalpha gene (alphaERKO). T production by alphaERKO Leydig cells was 2-fold higher than that in wild-type (WT) cells. Serum T levels were accordingly higher in alphaERKO compared with WT mice (5.1 +/- 1.1 vs. 2.2 +/- 0.4 ng/ml; P