Metabolic Effects of Angiotensin-(1-7)

This is an outpatient study that requires a screening visit and two study days in the Vanderbilt Clinical Research Center. Subjects will be asked to stop taking any medications for high blood pressure for at least 2 weeks prior to the study. Subjects will receive intravenous angiotensin-(1-7) or saline infusion on two separate study days, with each study day lasting approximately four hours. There will be at least one week of washout between study days. On each study day, subjects will be instrumented with two intravenous catheters (one for blood sampling and one for drug infusion), arm and finger blood pressure cuffs, and sticky patches to measure heart rate throughout the study. The investigators will take baseline measurements of blood pressure and heart rate and collect blood samples. The investigators will also perform a rebreathing test to measure the heart's pumping capacity. After baseline measurements, the investigators will infuse angiotensin-(1-7) or saline for 30 minutes, with blood pressure and heart rate measured every 10 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, blood samples will be collected and the rebreathing test will be repeated. The investigators will continue the angiotensin-(1-7) or saline infusion for an additional 2 hours while performing a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp to measure insulin sensitivity.