L. Ghiadoni et al., Effect of acute blood pressure reduction on endothelial function in the brachial artery of patients with essential hypertension, J HYPERTENS, 19(3), 2001, pp. 547-551
Citations number
31
Categorie Soggetti
Cardiovascular & Respiratory Systems","Cardiovascular & Hematology Research
Objectives To evaluate the effect of acute blood pressure reduction on endo
thelium-dependent vasodilation in the peripheral circulation of essential h
ypertensive patients.
Design A parallel group study; endothelial function measured in 64 essentia
l hypertensive patients before and after (2 h) treatment with nifedipine (2
0 mg, n = 32) or captopril (50 mg, n = 32), p.o., randomly assigned.
Methods In hypertensive patients, we evaluated flow-mediated, endothelium-d
ependent dilation (FMD, high resolution ultrasound) of the brachial artery
compared with endothelium-independent response to glyceryl trinitrate (GTN,
25 mug s.I.), Automatic computerized analysis was used to measure brachial
artery diameter on end-diastolic frames acquired every second during the s
tudy. Sixty-six healthy normotensive subjects were also evaluated to assess
the presence of endothelial dysfunction in hypertensive patients.
Results Hypertensive patients showed a significantly (P < 0.01) lower FMD (
5.9 <plus/minus> 2.5%) as compared to healthy controls (7.7 +/- 3.8%). The
response to GTN was similar in normotensive subjects (7.5 +/- 3.1%) and hyp
ertensive patients (7.2 +/- 6.5%). At baseline brachial artery diameter, FM
D and response to GTN were similar in the nifedipine-and captopril-treated
groups. Nifedipine and captopril similarly reduced blood pressure, but only
nifedipine increased heart rate. Acute nifedipine, but not captopril, sign
ificantly (P < 0.01) increased brachial artery diameter, while FMD and resp
onse to GTN were not modified after nifedipine or captopril.
CONLUSIONS Endothelial dysfunction in the brachial artery of essential hype
rtensive patients is not improved by acute blood pressure reduction.