It is well known that the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) has a prepro-hormone of 151 amino-acids which loses their hydrophobic signal peptide to form 126 amino acid prohormone. The whole prohormone is released and then cleaved by proteases into more than one circulating forms. Recently, Winters et al. (1988a, b) reported that high concentrations of N-terminal fragments of prepro-ANP (26 ~ 55), (56 ~ 92) and (104 ~ 123) were detected in human plasma. However, their physiological roles have not been established. The present study was conducted to determine whether the N-terminal fragments of pro-ANP have any effect on the renal function and to compare the effect with those of G-terminal fragments of pro-ANP The results indicate that intrarenal arterial infusions of prepro-ANP (26 ~ 41), (26 ~ 55), (56 ~ 92) and (104 ~ 123) induced no significant changes in renal function. Whereas α-human ANP (prepro-ANP, 124 ~ 151) and pro-ANP caused a significant increase in urine volume, renal plasma flow, glomerular filtration rate, urinary excretions of sodium, chloride and potassium, and fractional excretion of sodium. These results suggest that the N-terminal fragments of pro-ANP are ineffective, while the C-terminal fragments retain the natriuretic and diuretic activities.
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