[Coronary flow in experimental cardiac hypertrophy caused by arterial hypertension]

We studied the effects of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) induced by one clip-two kidney Goldblatt hypertension on coronary circulation of conscious rats. Twenty four weeks after clipping, coronary blood flow per unit mass after pharmacological dilation by carbochrome (6 mg/kg) (coronary flow reserve-CFR) was measured using radioactive microspheres. Coronary flow reserve remained normal either during development or LVH in untreated rats or after reversal of LVH in rats treated with captopril or nephrectomy. An appropriate relationship between pressure and mass, which varied in parallel, layed a significant role in maintaining a normal CFR. This, if confirmed in man, our results would suggest that antihypertensive drugs that alter this relationship by decreasing pressure but not LV mass may adversely affect CFR.