Paradoxically Effects of Renin-Angiotensin System Suppression

Abstract Is any specific organ protection by blocking the renin-angiotensin system? What is the role of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in progressive renal disease? The renoprotective effect of ACE-inhibitors and angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor blockers is not only mediated via their renal hemodynamic effects, but also through non-hemodynamic mechanisms? What is the clinical evidence for the importance of local renin-angiotensin system (RAS)? These are several questions of a medical reality: that pharmacological blockade of reninangiotensin system (RAS) is paradoxically effective although circulating plasma renin activity (PRA) is low. An overview of the normal function of the system, as well as ramifications of its dysfunction (overactivity) and potentials for therapeutic blockade, is provided below.