[Effect of alpha methyldopa on heart in renovascular hypertension]

Previous studies from our laboratory, have demonstrated that 21 days after unclipping the decrease in arterial pressure (AP) was followed by a regression of cardiac hypertrophy (CH) and a normalization of contractile response to Isoproterenol (I) stimulation in two kidney one clip (2K1C) hypertension. The purpose in this study was to reexamine the effects of Alpha Methyl Dopa (AMD) treatment on AP, CH and cardiac response to I stimulation in this model. A total of 43 male rats, ten weeks old, were used. In 19 rats a silver clip was placed under ether anaesthesia in the left renal artery (clip group) (K). The remaining 24 animals constituted the control group (C). Twenty one days later, in 9 and in 17 animals from K and C groups, treatment with AMD 100 mg/kg/day per os was started and maintained during the three week-follow-up period (K alpha and C alpha groups). AP was measured twice a week by the tail cuff method and body weight was registered once a week. We defined hypertension when the systolic pressure was 150 mmHg or more. Three weeks after clipping and 21 days after treatment, in the clipped animals, simultaneously with matched controls (C alpha and K alpha) the cardiac response to Isoproterenol stimulation was studied. For this purpose, under pentobarbital anesthesia the carotid artery and the femoral artery and vein were cannulated in order to measure mean arterial pressure (MAP), left ventricular systolic pressure, heart rate (HR) and DP/DT+ Max in basal conditions and after I (0.001, 0.02, 0.04, 0.12 and 0.24 microgram/kg).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)