title: Role of kinins and nitric oxide in the antihypertrophic effect of ramipril.
abstract: We examined the effect of non-antihypertensive doses of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor ramipril, kinins, and/or nitric oxide on left ventricular hypertrophy in rats with aortic coarctation. We investigated the effect of either HOE 140, a specific B2 receptor antagonist, or NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, on the antihypertrophic effect of ramipril at non-antihypertensive doses (10 micrograms/kg per day) failed to alter left ventricular hypertrophy significantly, although a small decrease was obtained. Given at a dose of 1 mg/kg per day for 6 weeks, ramipril prevented increased blood pressure and left ventricular hypertrophy after aortic coarctation. Neither of these effects was blocked by simultaneous administration of HOE 140 (500 micrograms/kg per day). In rats with aortic coarctation treated with L-NAME, blood pressure increased further but left ventricular weight did not. Ramipril (1 mg/kg per day) significantly reduced left ventricular hypertrophy, although blood pressure was still higher than in rats given water alone. The slope of the correlation between left ventricular weight and blood pressure in rats that received L-NAME was significantly lower than in rats that did not (0.52 versus 1.29; P = .008). This suggests that for each 1 mm Hg that the blood pressure increased, the increase in left ventricular weight was less in the L-NAME groups. Thus, only antihypertensive doses of ramipril possessed antihypertrophic activity. Kinins did not participate in the chronic antihypertensive and antihypertrophic effects of ramipril. In hypertension induced or aggravated by chronic nitric oxide synthase, L-NAME partially impaired development of left ventricular hypertrophy for reasons that are unclear.
authors.affiliation: Hypertension and Vascular Research Division, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI 48202-2689.
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Rhaleb
authors.forename: X P
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Scicli
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Carretero
mesh_terms: D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D000818:Animals; D001017:Aortic Coarctation / Q000150:complications; D001120:Arginine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology; D007705:Kinins / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000502:physiology*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D017257:Ramipril / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D007705:Kinins; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D001120:Arginine; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D000594:Amino Acid Oxidoreductases; D017257:Ramipril; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester