Plasma Bradykinin Concentrations Research Articles

The acute effects of the new angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitor, enalapril maleate, on blood pressure, plasma renin, aldosterone and kinins in hypertensive patients

The acute antihypertensive effect of a new long-acting oral angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, enalapril maleate, was assessed in 20 hypertensive patients, of whom 14 had essential hypertension, 4 had renovascular hypertension, one had hypertension associated with chronic renal failure, and one had primary aldosteronism. Enalapril maleate significantly lowered the blood pressure in either low-renin or normal- and high-renin hypertensives. There was a significant correlation for all patients as a group between the pretreatment levels of serum ACE activity and the reduction in mean blood pressure (r = -0.454, p less than 0.05, n = 20) 2 h after drug administration. The serum ACE activity decreased maximally 3 to 4 hours after drug administration and did not return to baseline levels within 24 h. There was a significant correlation between the reduction in mean blood pressure and changes in ACE activity 90 min and 2 h after drug administration, respectively, for all patients as a group (r = 0.495, p less than 0.05, n = 20, at 90 min; r = 0.508, p less than 0.05, n = 20, at 2 h). The plasma renin activity (PRA) significantly increased in normal- and high-renin hypertensives but not in low-renin hypertensives. There was a close correlation between the reduction in mean blood pressure and the PRA 8 h after drug administration in normal- and high-renin patients (r = -0.623, p less than 0.05, n = 13), while no such relationship was observed in low-renin patients. The plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) significantly decreased within 3 h, the lowest values occurring at 8 h after drug administration, and it returned to baseline levels within 24 h in all patients. No relationship was found between the reduction in mean blood pressure and changes in PAC after drug administration in either low-renin or normal- and high-renin hypertensives. The plasma bradykinin concentration (PBC) increased within 1 h, the highest values occurring at 3 h after drug administration, and returned to baseline levels within 24 h in low-renin hypertensives, while the PBC was significantly increased at 4 h and had not returned to baseline levels within 24 h in normal- and high-renin hypertensives. There was a significant correlation between percentage changes in mean blood pressure and those in PBC 90 min after drug administration in normal- and high-renin hypertensives (r = -0.556, p less than 0.05, n = 13), while no relationship was observed between them in low-renin hypertensives.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Acute antihypertensive effect of captopril in hypertensive patients: with special reference to kallikrein-kinin system

In order to clarify the role of the kallikrein-kinin system in the hypotensive mechanisms of converting-enzyme inhibition, captopril was administered in a single oral dose of 50 mg to 17 hypertensive patients, of whom 14 had essential hypertension, one had chronic renal failure, one had primary aldosteronism, and one had glucocorticoid responsive hyperaldosteronism. Captopril lowered blood pressure remarkably in either low-renin or normal-, and high-renin hypertensives, however, there was no significant relationship between the fall in blood pressure and pretreatment levels of plasma renin activity (PRA) in any of the patients any time after the administration. PRA was significantly increased in normal- and high-renin hypertensives but not in low-renin patients. Plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) was decreased significantly in normal- and high-renin patients, while no significant change in PAC was observed in patients with low-renin activity. Captopril elevated plasma bradykinin concentration (PBK) from a control value of 12.5 +/- 4.1 (mean +/- s.d.) to 20.3 +/- 7.7 pg/ml (p less than 0.001) at 30 min, and there was a significant correlation between changes in PBK and changes in mean blood pressure 120 min after the administration in all the patients (r = 0.741, p less than 0.01, n = 17). In one patient with primary aldosteronism, PBK increased from a baseline of 10.0 to a maximum value of 19.0 pg/ml, corresponding to the rapid fall in blood pressure. Also, in one patient with glucocorticoid responsive hyperaldosteronism, captopril increased PBK from a control of 14.1 to 27.9 pg/ml at 30 min, corresponding to the marked fall in blood pressure from 170/106 to 136/90 mmHg. From these findings, it is suggested that the accumulation of kinins following captopril administration plays a major role in the short-term reduction of blood pressure in hypertensive patients, especially in those with low renin-angiotensin activity.

Renal vascular response to interruption of the renin-angiotensin system in normal man

We assessed the role of the renin-angiotensin system in the response of the renal circulation to restriction of sodium intake in 38 normal patients. Both saralasin (10 to 30 ng/kg/min), an angiotensin antagonist, and SQ 20881 (30 to 300microgram/kg), a converting enzyme inhibitor, induced a dose-related increase in renal blood flow (xenon 133 washout) only when the resin-angiotension system was activated by restriction of sodium intake to 10 MEq/day. Increasing doses of saralasin (100 to 1,000 ng/kg/min) reduced renal blood flow, presumably due to the angiotensin-like action of this partial agonist. The renal vascular response to SQ 20881 paralleled the endocrine response: An identical threshold dose (30 microgram/kg) increased renal blood flow and reduced plasma angiotensin II concentration, which fell despite a progressive rise of plasma renin activity. Plasma bradykinin concentration did not change in response to SQ 20881, which also blocks kininase II. Both agents also induced a small but consistent and statistically significant reduction in arterial blood pressure, which will be important in assessing the pathogenetic significance of a blood pressure reduction in patients with hypertension. This study indicates that angiotensin mediates the renal vascular response to restriction of salt intake in normal man and provides an approach to assessing the role played by angiotensin in the pathogenesis of functional renal disease.

Accentuated Vascular and Endocrine Response to Sq 20881 in Hypertension

We assessed vascular and hormonal responses to inhibition of peptidyldipeptide hydrolase, which converts angiotensin I to angiotensin II (converting enzyme) and degrades bradykinin (kininase II), in subjects given 10 meq of sodium to activate both systems. In nine normal subjects a threshold dose of 30 MICROgram per kilogram of the inhibitor, SQ 20881, modestly influenced mean blood pressure (-5 +/- 1 mm Hg, P less than 0.05), and renal blood flow (+50+/-8 ml per 100 g per minute), plasma renin activity (+ 2.3 +/- 0.6 ng per milliliter per hour), and angiotensin II (-11 +/- 3 pg per milliliter) more strikingly (P less than 0.01). In six patients with essential hypertension the threshold inhibitor dose was reduced to 10 microgram per kilogram; 30 kilogram per kilogram had an enhanced (P less than 0.01) effect on mean blood pressure (-11 +/- 2 mm Hg), renal blood flow (137 +/- 20 ml per 100 g per minute), and angiotensin II concentration (-29 +/- 12 pg per milliliter). SQ 20881 elevated plasma bradykinin concentration (7.4 +/- 2.6 ng per milliliter, P less than 0.02) only in the hypertensive patients. Because both renin-angiotensin and kallikrein-bradykinin systems are influenced, vascular responses to SQ 20881 must be interpreted cautiously, but this agent has excellent antihypertensive characteristics.

Cardiovascular and metabolic effects of whole or fractionated gram-negative bacterial endotoxin in the unanesthetized Rhesus monkey.

Rhesus monkeys were infused with endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (10 mg/kg [LPS 10 ] or 2.5 mg/kg [LPS 2.5 ]) or with fractions of LPS containing 6.3% lipid (PS 1 ) or 0.5% lipid (PS 2 ) (2.5 mg/kg). Systemic and regional hemodynamics, leukocyte counts, blood gases, pH, and plasma bradykinin concentration were measured. Monkeys receiving LPS 10 , LPS 2.5 , or PS 1 became hypotensive (mean blood pressure -37 ± 10 mm Hg) and had decreased peripheral vascular resistance (-10% to -24% of the base line), compensated metabolic acidosis, and elevated plasma bradykinin concentrations (14 ± 6 ng/ml) 2 hours after infusion. Vasodilation occurred in coronary, hepatic, and splanchnic vasculature; vasoconstriction occurred in the spleen. Cardiac output was diverted from muscle to viscera. Monkeys receiving PS 2 were normotensive with elevated peripheral vascular resistance (+46%) and no measurable plasma bradykinin concentration. By 6 hours, marked elevation of peripheral vascular resistance developed in monkeys given LPS 10 (+113%) and LPS 2.5 (+57%). Monkeys receiving PS 1 returned to base-line values, but monkeys receiving PS 2 remained unchanged. Leukopenia (-50% to -65%) was persistent only in monkeys receiving LPS or PS 1 . Toxicity of LPS apparently depends on the lipid portions of the molecule. Vasodilation and bradykinin generation are correlated with persistent granulocytopenia. Late toxicity may be independent of early cardiovascular events.

Serotonin and Fibrosis

The association between serotonin (5hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) and fibrosing syndromes such as the carcinoid heart has intrigued clinicians for years. Yet all attempts to produce similar lesions in experimental animals with chronic administration of 5-HT have failed. If 5-HT per se does not induce cardiac fibrosis, perhaps 5-HT functions only as a in this fibrosis. Our previous experimental data suggest that the hypoadrenal state is such a co-factor in the rat. Recent clinical evidence suggests that plasma bradykinin concentration is markedly increased in certain cases of the carcinoid syndrome. Yet both of these potential co-factors singly and in combination with chronic 5-HT administration failed to produce fibrotic lesions in the rat heart. While the etiology of the fibrotic lesions of the carcinoid syndrome remains unknown, further search for co-factors to 5-HT may prove fruitful.