How Do Young and Old Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats Respond to Antihypertensive Therapy? Comparative Studies on the Effects of Combined Captopril and Nifedipine Treatment.

Numerous studies on the effects of antihypertensive treatment in young spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) have shown that early-onset therapy may effectively reduce their blood pressure (BP) even to normotensive values. In contrast, only a few studies investigated the effects of treatment started at an advanced age. These studies revealed that antihypertensive effects are lower in adult or even in senescent SHRs compared with young SHRs.

How Effective Is a Late-Onset Antihypertensive Treatment? Studies with Captopril as Monotherapy and in Combination with Nifedipine in Old Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.

Background: A major problem in the treatment of human hypertension is the late diagnosis of hypertension and, hence, the delayed start of treatment. Very often, hypertension has existed for a long time and cardiac damage has already developed. Therefore, we tested whether late-onset antihypertensive treatment is effective in lowering blood pressure (BP) and in reducing or even preventing left ventricular hypertrophy and fibrosis.

Antihypertensive and cardioprotective effects of different monotherapies and combination therapies in young spontaneously hypertensive rats - A pilot study.

Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) are an established animal model for antihypertensive treatment. The aim of this pilot study was a systematic search for two lines of antihypertensive treatment - a monotherapy and a combination of two drugs - to be applied in a future study on old SHR. Originally, representatives of three drug classes recommended for antihypertensive therapy in humans should be applied, namely captopril (CAP) as an antagonist of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, nifedipine (NIF) as calcium channel blocker and propranolol (PROP) as β-adrenergic blocker.

Effects of late-onset and long-term captopril and nifedipine treatment in aged spontaneously hypertensive rats: Echocardiographic studies.

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the changes in blood pressure, left ventricular (LV) wall thickness and LV systolic function of aged spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) either with or without antihypertensive therapy. Twenty-one SHRs aged 60.5±0.