Effects of captopril on the sleep EEG of spontaneously hypertensive rats

Intracerebroventricular captopril produces significantly different effects on the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) of normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WK) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The compound produces a definite pattern of decrease in the percentage and power of the lower frequency EEG of the SHR. Corresponding action on the WK was confined to a general decrease in the power of the EEG. These findings suggest that certain components of the central renin-angiotensin system in the SHR are abnormal.