Insulin increases angiotensinogen expression in human abdominal subcutaneous adipocytes

Summary  The renin–angiotensin system is an important regulator of blood pressure, and blockade of this system improves blood pressure in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Recently, components of the system have been described in adipose tissue. However, to date no study has investigated the influence of varying insulin concentrations on angiotensinogen (AGT) protein expression in human subcutaneous abdominal fat. Isolated subcutaneous adipocytes were treated with insulin (1–1000 nm) for 48 h. As part of the studies, a novel AGT antibody was developed and validated by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Western blotting was performed on the protein extracted from the adipocytes treated with insulin to determine AGT expression. Increasing doses of insulin raised AGT protein expression in a dose‐dependent manner (control 1.0 ± 0.0 (mean ± s.e.) – protein expression standardized relative to control; 1 nm insulin: 2.64 ± 0.0.32↑***; 100 nm insulin: 4.37 ± 0.57↑***; 1000 nm insulin: 6.50 ± 0.97↑***; ***p < 0.001, n = 3). In conclusion, increasing insulin doses stimulates AGT production. In this study, protein analysis suggests that hyperinsulinaemia may be an important factor in obesity‐related hypertension.