Effect of acute blood pressure reduction on endothelial function in the brachial artery of patients with essential hypertension

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of acute blood pressure reduction on endothelium-dependent vasodilation in the peripheral circulation of essential hypertensive patients. DESIGN: A parallel group study; endothelial function measured in 64 essential hypertensive patients before and after (2 h) treatment with nifedipine (20 mg, n = 32) or captopril (50 mg, n = 32), p.o., randomly assigned. METHODS: In hypertensive patients, we evaluated flow-mediated, endothelium-dependent dilation (FMD, high resolution ultrasound) of the brachial artery compared with endothelium-independent response to glyceryl trinitrate (GTN, 25 microg s.l.). Automatic computerized analysis was used to measure brachial artery diameter on end-diastolic frames acquired every second during the study. Sixty-six healthy normotensive subjects were also evaluated to assess the presence of endothelial dysfunction in hypertensive patients. RESULTS: Hypertensive patients showed a significantly (P< 0.01) lower FMD (5.9 +/- 2.5%) as compared to healthy controls (7.7 +/- 3.8%). The response to GTN was similar in normotensive subjects (7.5 +/- 3.1%) and hypertensive patients (7.2 +/- 6.5%). At baseline brachial artery diameter, FMD and response to GTN were similar in the nifedipine- and captopril-treated groups. Nifedipine and captopril similarly reduced blood pressure, but only nifedipine increased heart rate. Acute nifedipine, but not captopril, significantly (P< 0.01) increased brachial artery diameter, while FMD and response to GTN were not modified after nifedipine or captopril. CONCLUSIONS: Endothelial dysfunction in the brachial artery of essential hypertensive patients is not improved by acute blood pressure reductio