The Journal of Angioedemasit amet INTRODUCTION The pharmacology of bradykinin (BK)-related peptides, the kinins, has come a long way in recent decades, with the pharmacologic and then the molecular definition of 2 G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that mediate their cellular actions, the B 1 and B 2 receptors (B 1 R, B 2 R). 1 Additional modern research tools include mouse strains in which one or both of the genes coding for kinin receptors have been deleted ("gene knockout" models). 2 The formation of kinins and their degradation by interesting peptidases, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme, will not be covered in the present text. The arduous nature of the analytic biochemistry of BK-related peptides is outlined elsewhere. 3 We rather propose an excursion into the pharmacology of kinins, the first author having been a spectator and an actor in the field for the past 35 years. There will be a strong autobiographic bias in the selection of the illustration material. We hope this partiality will be forgiven in light of the generous invitation he has received to summarize the field during an oral presentation at the 8th C1-Inhibitor Deficiency Workshop. BRADYKININ RECEPTOR LIGANDS: AGONISTS AND ANTAGONISTS The receptors for bradykinin were initially defined in the late 1970s and 1980s using pharmacologic criteria. The B 1 R was historically the first defined using both a typical potency order of agonists and a class of specific antagonists. This somewhat atypical receptor subtype is optimally responsive to fragments of the native kinins (BK and Lys-BK) in which the Arg 9 residue has been removed (des-Arg 9-BK, Lys-des-Arg 9-BK, respectively; Fig. 1). 4 The early peptide antagonists were simply des-Arg 9 sequences in which Phe 8 was replaced with a residue possessing an aliphatic side chain, such as Leu. In retrospect, it is now clear that the native kinins produced by the kallikreins, either BK or Lys-BK (kallidin), are selective agonists of the physiologically prominent B 2 R subtype that has been consolidated with specific peptide antagonists in the 1980s by Professor John M. Stewart and colleagues. The B 2 R antagonists typically possess a constrained peptide backbone due to the inclusion of bulky nonnatural amino acids that also confer resistance ABSTRACT Bradykinin-related peptides, the kinins, are blood-derived peptides that stimulate 2 G protein-coupled receptors, the B 1 and B 2 receptors (B 1 R, B 2 R). The pharmacologic and molecular identities of these 2 receptor subtypes will be succinctly reviewed, with emphasis on drug development, receptor expression, signaling, and adaptation to persistent stimulation. Peptide and nonpeptide antagonists and fluorescent ligands have been produced for each receptor. The B 2 R is widely and constitutively expressed in mammalian tissues, whereas the B 1 R is mostly inducible under the effect of cytokines during infection and immunopathology. Both receptor subtypes mediate the vascular aspects of inflammation (vasodilation, edema formation). On this basis, icatibant...