Rate of angiotensin II generation within the human pulmonary vascular bed

Plasma angiotensin II concentration gradients across the pulmonary vascular bed were measured during diagnostic renal venous/right heart catheterization in twenty-seven hypertensive patients with renal or renovascular disease. There was a linear correlation between the plasma angiotensin II concentration in mixed venous blood and in systemic arterial blood. The pulmonary angiotensin II production rate was measured in fourteen patients. This parameter was linearly correlated with plasma renin concentration in systemic arterial blood. The plasma clearance of angiotensin II across the systemic vascular bed varied from 0.7 to 1.71/min, i.e. within a fairly narrow range.