The beneficial effect of ACE inhibitors on cardiovascular remodelling from
hypertension and ischemic disease may be due to the effect of these drugs o
n the proliferation/cell death balance. We therefore investigated the effec
t of the addition of captopril in vitro, on the onset of apoptosis in human
vascular myocytes, by using a propidium iodide fluorescence analysis and a
morphological analysis using the acridine orange technique. Captopril (0.2
3 mM) caused an increase in apoptotic phenomena that was more than 3.5-fold
than in controls both at the 24th (7.7 vs. 2%) and the 48th h (10.1 vs. 3.
8%). The addition of propranolol strengthened the effect on apoptosis. The
induction of apoptotic phenomena may be a mechanism by which ACE inhibitors
affect cardiovascular remodelling and it might also explain the favorable
effect these drugs have on diseases such as IgA nephropathy and diabetic ne
phropathy.