Renin-like activity in ovarian follicular fluid

Angiogenesis is a feature of ovarian follicle and corpus luteum development. Ovarian homogenates and follicular fluid (FF) contain factors that stimulate new vessel formation. Because the renin-angiotensin system has been shown to facilitate angiogenesis, renin activity was measured in FF and plasma from 20 normal, ovulatory women who were undergoing in vitro fertilization and were therefore stimulated with human menopausal gonadotropin/human chorionic gonadotropin. Serum estradiol (E2) and FF E2 and progesterone (P) were also determined and correlated with FF and plasma renin activity. FF renin activity was significantly higher than plasma renin activity (55.8±7.9 versus 3.8±0.7ng of angiotensin I/ml/hour, P