The goal of this study was to investigate whether the elastic behavior of conduit arteries of humans or rats is altered as a result of concomitant hypertension. Forearm arterial cross-sectional compliance-pressure curves were determined noninvasively by means of a high precision ultrasonic echo-tracking device coupled to a photoplethysmograph (Finapres system) allowing simultaneous arterial diameter and finger blood pressure monitoring. Seventeen newly diagnosed hypertensive patients with a humeral blood pressure of 163/103 +/- 4.4/2.2 mm Hg (mean +/- SEM) and 17 age- and sex-matched normotensive controls with a humeral blood pressure of 121/77 +/- 3.2/1.9 mm Hg were included in the study. Compliance-pressure curves were also established at the carotid artery of 16-week-old anesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats (n = 14) as well as Wistar-Kyoto normotensive animals (n = 15) using the same echo-tracking device. In these animals, intra-arterial pressure was monitored in the contralateral carotid artery. Mean blood pressures averaged 197 +/- 4 and 140 +/- 3 mm Hg in the hypertensive and normotensive rats, respectively. Despite the considerable differences in blood pressure, the diameter-pressure and cross-sectional compliance-pressure and distensibility-pressure curves were not different when hypertensive patients or animals were compared with their respective controls. These results suggest that the elastic behavior of a medium size muscular artery (radial) in humans and of an elastic artery (carotid) in rats is not necessarily altered by an increase in blood pressure.

1 The disposition of two angiotensin converting-enzyme inhibitor drugs was studied in normal volunteers. One drug was enalapril maleate (MK-421), which requires in vivo esterolysis to yield active inhibitor . The other was a lysine analogue of MK-422 (MK-521), which requires no bioactivation. 2 Absorption of enalapril maleate (10 mg, p.o.) was rapid, with peak serum concentrations of enalapril observed 0.5-1.5 h after administration. Based upon urinary recovery of total drug (enalapril plus MK-422), absorption was at least 61%. Bioactivation appeared to be largely post-absorptive. From the ratio of MK-422 to total drug in urine, the minimum extent of bioactivation was estimated at 0.7. 3 A similar dose of MK-521 was absorbed more slowly, reaching peak serum concentrations 6-8 h following drug administration. Minimum absorption, based upon urinary recovery, was 29%. 4 Serum concentration v time profiles for both drugs were polyphasic and exhibited prolonged terminal phases. 5 Recovery in urine and faeces of administered enalapril maleate (intact and as MK-422) was 94%. Recovery of MK-521 was 97%. These results indicate lack of significant metabolism of these agents, apart from the bioactivation of enalapril.

DuP 753 appears to be a well-tolerated, orally active, potent, and long-lasting antagonist of angiotensin II in men.

SUMMARY To measure specifically angiotensin-(l-8)octapeptide, peptides were extracted from 2 ml of plasma by reversible adsorption to bonded-phase silica. The angiotensin-(l-8)octapeptide was then isolated by isocratic reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and quantified by radioimmunoassay. The extraction recovery of l25 I-angiotensin II added to 2 ml of plasma was 99 ± 2% (mean ± SD). The overall recovery of 5,10, and 20 fmol unlabeled angiotensin II added to 1 ml of plasma was 80 ± 10%. The coefficient of variation for within-assay precision was 0.06 and for between-assay precision 0.13. The detection limit was 0.4 fmol/ml. Buffer and plasma blanks were below the detection limit. Normal subjects on a free diet in supine position averaged 4.2 ± 1.7 fmol/ml angiotensin-(l-8)octapeptide. Furosemide (40 mg p.o.) and standing increased these values to 22 ± 7.6 fmol/ml. In four volunteers, immunoreactive "angiotensin II" (more or less angiotensinlike material) was measured serially before and after converting-enzyme inhibition (Hoe 498) with conventional Dowex extraction. At peak inhibition, plasma immunoreactive "angiotensin II" levels decreased by only 44%. In contrast, angiotensin-(l-8)-octapeptide isolated by high-performance liquid chromatography completely disappeared. In hypertensive patients receiving long-term treatment with enalapril, plasma levels ofangiotensin-(l-8)octapeptide fell from 2.7 ± 0.9 to0.9 ± 0.3 fmol/ml (mean ± SKM) 2 hours after the morning dose, whereas levels of immunoreactive "angiotensin II" were not significantly changed. We found that this sensitive method specifically measured angiotensin-(l-8)octapeptide and demonstrated that true angiotensin II virtually disappears during converting-enzyme inhibition.

The role of the sympathetic nervous system, angiotensin II (ANG II), and arginine vasopressin (AVP) in maintaining blood pressure (BP) during endotoxic shock was investigated in 117 conscious male Wistar rats. After intravenous injection of 2 mg Escherichia coli endotoxin, mean BP fell within 5 min by approximately 50 mmHg and rose again to approach base-line levels within 90 min. At that time, plasma renin activity, plasma norepinephrine (NE), and vasopressin levels of the endotoxin-treated animals were, respectively, 12-, 10-, and 54-fold (P less than 0.001) higher than those of the controls. The BP effect of either prazosin (0.125 mg iv), captopril (2.5 mg iv), or d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)AVP (5 micrograms iv), a specific antagonist of the vascular effect of AVP, was evaluated over a 30-min observation period starting 90 min after administration of endotoxin or its vehicle. Captopril reduced mean BP from 116 +/- 1.8 to a low of 109 +/- 2.1 (SE) mmHg (P less than 0.05, n = 8) only in rats pretreated with endotoxin, whereas the vasopressin antagonist had no depressor effect even during endotoxemia. The BP drop induced by prazosin in rats exposed to endotoxin (-21 +/- 3.3 mmHg, n = 6) did not significantly differ from that observed in control rats (-14 +/- 3.4 mmHg, n = 6). A dose-response curve to NE, ANG II, and lysine vasopressin was also performed. In endotoxin-treated rats the mean BP response to all agonists was markedly suppressed (P less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)