The persistent effect of long-term enalapril on pressure natriuresis in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Long-term angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor treatment has been shown to have a persistent antihypertensive effect in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) long after discontinuation of treatment. To test the hypothesis that this persistent effect involves a shift in the pressure-natriuresis relation, we performed experiments in male, anesthetized SHR at 18 wk of age with fixed neural and hormonal influences on the kidney. Renal function was assessed at various levels of arterial pressure using standard clearance techniques. Enalapril (25 mg.kg-1.day-1 in drinking water) was administered from 4 to 14 wk of age and again 3 days before renal function studies. The following four groups of SHR were studied: 1) 10-wk treatment, 2) 10-wk + 3-day treatment, 3) 3-day treatment, and 4) untreated. Groups 1 and 4 had an intact renin-angiotensin system; groups 2 and 3 had the renin-angiotensin system blocked. Mean arterial pressure (MAP, mmHg; means +/- SE) under Inactin anesthesia was 139 +/- 4 (n = 9), 109 +/- 3 (n = 8), 149 +/- 1 (n = 9), and 181 +/- 7 mmHg (n = 9) for each of the four groups, respectively. Glomerular filtration rate was similar in all groups at resting levels of MAP, whereas renal blood flow was elevated in all treatment groups when compared with that in untreated SHR. Pressure-natriuresis, pressure-diuresis, and pressure-fractional sodium excretion curves for the 10-wk treatment group and 3-day only treatment group were shifted leftward to significantly lower pressures by approximately 25 mmHg, compared with the untreated group. The curves for the treated +3-day group were shifted an additional 30 mmHg to the left. The relationship between renal artery pressure (RAP) and renal interstitial hydrostatic pressure was also shifted 25-30 mmHg but only in rats that received the long-term treatment with enalapril. Three-day enalapril had no significant effect on this relationship. These data indicate that the persistent effect of long-term enalapril treatment on arterial pressure in SHR is the result of a shift in the pressure-natriuresis relationship. The mechanism for this effect involves hemodynamic changes that act to improve transmission of RAP to the interstitium, resulting in enhanced sodium excretion for a given level of RAP.