Renal protective effect of long term antihypertensive therapy with enalapril

This review focuses on recent human studies with the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor enalapril, prescribed either alone or in combination with a diuretic, to patients with essential hypertension and to patients with hypertension associated with moderate to severe renal parenchymal disease. Data suggest that enalapril therapy may provide a renal protective effect. In addition to lowering and controlling systemic arterial blood pressure, enalapril therapy is associated with stabilisation of, and/or improvement in effective renal plasma flow, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and urinary protein excretion. Such renal protective effects are probably mediated by normalisation of both the systemic arterial blood pressure and intraglomerular capillary hydraulic pressure, and by an increase in the glomerular ultrafiltration coefficient. Drug therapy enabling control of both systemic and glomerular hypertension may prevent hypertensive renal end-organ damage and attenuate the natural progression of renal parenchymal disease.