Page 60 - Consciousness in the Cell

CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE CELL
enzyme called renin is secreted by specialized cells of juxta-
glomerular apparatus, or JGA located in the kidneys. Renin has no
direct effect in raising blood pressure, however. It combines with
angiotensinogen, another substance secreted far away in the liver,
to form angiotensin I in the blood.
Once again, angiotensin I has no major effect on blood pres-
sure. This hormone is in turn converted to angiotensin II, by the
action of another substance present in the lungs called
angiotensin-converting enzyme, or ACE. This enzyme's sole duty
is to degrade angiotensin I.
And so, the end product of all of these steps is the only mole-
cule that directly affects blood vessels and actually brings blood
pressure back to normal. If this "ultimate' molecule is not synthe-
sized, none of its precursors can have any effect on blood pressure.
Again, only when the angiotensin II molecule binds to specific
receptors on the cell surface, do the vessels constrict and blood
pressure increases.
Here, the most important point to consider is that each of these
substances' effects are interdependent. Since the absence of one
molecule means the absence of all, how could even one of these
steps have evolved through chance? For if even one step cannot
come about by chance, then it's impossible for all the others to
arise at the same time, in one single body.
No one could argue that coincidence can confer upon the kid-
neys the ability of understanding, or to take precautions or make
decisions. That all these details exist at the same time is a clear
indication that they were created by God.

He is God—the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of
Form. To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.
Everything in the heavens and Earth glorifies Him.
He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. (Qur'an, 59: 24)

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