Impact of nebivolol on levels of serum nitric oxide, plasma von Willebrand factor and exercise stress testing parameters in hypertensive and ischemic heart disease patients.

Background: The dysfunction of vascular endothelium precedes the development of atherosclerosis in patients with arterial hypertension. Nebivolol is a very specific beta-blocker, which can be characterized by a strong endothelial vasodilatative effect. The aim of the study was the assessment of changes in concentrations of serum nitric oxide (NO), plasma von Willebrand factor (vWf) and selected parameters of electrocardiographic exercise tests after 4-week nebivolol treatment.

Methods: Twenty-one patients were included in the study, aged from 34 to 82 years with primary arterial hypertension or primary arterial hypertension and ischemic heart disease. Blood samples were taken for measurements of serum NO and plasma vWf. Electrocardiographic stress tests were also performed. Subsequently, nebivolol was administered for four weeks and the aforementioned measurements were repeated.

Results: A significant increase in serum NO concentration was found in all the investigated patients after nebivolol treatment. A prolongation of exercise time, increase in metabolic equivalent and decrease in double product were also noted in patients after nebivolol treatment.

Conclusions: Nebivolol treatment improves parameters of electrocardiographic exercise test in patients with arterial hypertension. The improvement of the parameters of the exercise test was not observed in those patients who showed no significant increase in serum NO concentration following nebivolol treatment.