The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is the critical protease the cleaves Ang I to generate Ang II, which is a key regulator of the RAS and exerts biological functions through two G-protein-coupled receptors, the Ang II receptor type 1 receptor (AT1R) and Ang II receptor type 2 receptor (AT2R) (Skeggs et al., 1980; Corvol et al., 1995) .