Koh-ichi Sugimoto and Akio Fujimura
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Jichi Medical School, 3311-1, Minamikawachi-machi,
Kawachi-gun, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan
Abstract: We examined the effects of icatibant, a specific bradykinin
B2-receptor antagonist, on the regression of left ventricular
mass (LVM) induced by angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, ramipril
and imidapril, in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Both ramipril and imidapril
lowered blood pressure equally, which were not influenced by icatibant.
Icatibant did not alter the regressive effect of imidapril, while it showed
a tendency to increase LVM in the ramipril-treated rats. The changes of
LVM induced by icatibant were significantly different between the ramipril-
and the imidapril-treated rats, suggesting that the role of bradykinin in
the antihypertrophic effect might differ among ACE inhibitors.
Keywords: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, Bradykinin, Left ventricular
hypertrophy