title: Influence of long-term treatment with the dihydropyridine-type calcium antagonist nicardipine on renal microanatomical changes in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
abstract: 1. The influence of hypertension and treatment with the dihydropyridine-type Ca2+ antagonist, nicardipine, on the structure of the kidney was assessed in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) of 12 weeks of age. Treatment went for 8 weeks with a daily oral dose of 1 mg/kg of nicardipine. 2. Control SHR exhibited hypertension and microanatomical vascular and glomerular changes. Vascular changes consisted of a thickening of the tunica media and decreased luminal area of medium- and small-sized intrarenal artery branches. Glomerular changes included glomerulosclerosis and atrophy of varying degrees. 3. Administration of nicardipine significantly reduced blood pressure. The drug also decreased the thickening of tunica media and luminal narrowing of renal artery branches as well as the degree of glomerular injury in SHR. 4. These data indicate that nicardipine treatment is able to control elevated blood pressure in SHR, and to counter hypertension-dependent microanatomical impairment of the kidney. This suggests that the compound exerts a protective effect on hypertensive kidney.
authors.affiliation: Sezione Anatomia Umana, Istituto di Farmacologia, Universita di Camerino, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amenta
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abbate
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cavallotti
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ciriaco
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrante
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabbatini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007668:Kidney / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D009529:Nicardipine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D011921:Rats, Inbred WKY; D012077:Renal Artery / Q000473:pathology; D012079:Renal Circulation / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D009529:Nicardipine