Effects of nitrendipine on the course of experimental immunologic glomerulonephritis

To test whether calcium entry blockers (CEB) affect the course of progressive renal disease, we examined a standardized model of antiglomerular basement membrane glomerulonephritis (GN) in rats with and without oral administration of the CEB, nitrendipine (Nit). Nit was given in chow pellets at a daily dose of approximately 20 mg. Nephritic control rats received standard chow (Co). A time-course study over 4 weeks revealed the following; mean systolic blood pressure in GN/Nit rats remained below 115 mm Hg throughout, while GN/Co rats developed mild hypertension with peak values of 135 +/- 8 at 4 weeks (p less than 0.05). Urinary albumin excretion before induction of GN was 1.2 +/- 0.4 mg/24 h; at weeks 1 and 4, GN/Co had 249 +/- 34 and 306 +/- 50 mg/24 h, respectively. GN/Nit had less albuminuria, with 107 +/- 25 and 172 +/- 21 mg/24 h, respectively (p less than 0.05). Clearance experiments in anesthetized rats at 4 weeks revealed significantly better preservation of renal function in GN/Nit vs. GN/Co rats: (renal vascular resistance: 90.2 +/- 24 vs. 402.2 +/- 160 mm Hg/ml/min; clearance of para-aminohippurate: 1.388 +/- 0.151 vs. 0.598 +/- 0.368 ml/min/100 g; clearance of inulin: 0.570 +/- 0.123 vs. 0.141 +/- 0.077 ml/min/100 g; urinary sodium excretion: 1.417 +/- 0.554 vs. 0.188 +/- 0.081 mumol/min).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)