To determine whether or not rat plasma inactive renin is prorenin, specific antibodies were raised against two 15-amino acid peptides, Pro-NH2 and Pro-COOH, which contained the NH2-terminal and COOH-terminal sequences, respectively, of the prosegment of rat prorenin. Inactive renin was measured after trypsin treatment. Immunoaffinity chromatography of normal rat plasma on anti-Pro-NH2 and anti-Pro-COOH immunoglobulin G (IgG)-Sepharose showed that about one-half the amount of inactive renin was prorenin, whereas the rest was neither prorenin nor renin. Thus trypsin treatment of the unfractionated plasma does not provide measurement of the concentration of prorenin. However, fractionation of plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography on G3,000SW columns followed by trypsin treatment led to the measurement of prorenin. Prorenin and active renin concentrations in the normal plasma of conscious rats were 44.3 +/- 5.8 and 13.3 +/- 1.4 (SE) ng ANG I.h-1.ml-1, respectively (n = 10). On the other hand, plasma inactive renin from rats at 24 h after bilateral nephrectomy bound to neither anti-Pro-NH2 nor anti-Pro-COOH IgG immunoaffinity columns, and the enzymatic activity after trypsin treatment was not inhibited by anti-mature renin IgG. These results demonstrate that inactive renin from nephrectomized rats was not prorenin. Thus the kidney is the primary source of circulating prorenin in rats.