Angiotensin II contributes to arterial compliance in congestive heart failure
1 Heart Institute, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-000, Brazil; and 2 Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 Arterial compliance is determined by structural factors, such as collagen and elastin, and functional factors, s...
Saved in:
Published in | American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology Vol. 283; no. 4; pp. H1424 - H1429 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
01.10.2002
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | 1 Heart Institute, School of Medicine, University of
São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-000, Brazil; and
2 Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Arterial compliance is
determined by structural factors, such as collagen and elastin, and
functional factors, such as vasoactive neurohormones. To determine
whether angiotensin II contributes to decreased arterial compliance in
patients with heart failure, this study tested the hypothesis that
administration of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor improves
arterial compliance. Arterial compliance and stiffness were determined
by measuring carotid artery diameter, using high-resolution duplex
ultrasonography, and blood pressure in 23 patients with heart failure
secondary to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. Measurements were made
before and after intravenous administration of enalaprilat (1 mg) or
vehicle. Arterial compliance was inversely related to both baseline
plasma angiotensin II ( r = 0.52; P = 0.015) and angiotensin-converting enzyme concentrations ( r = 0.45; P = 0.041). During
isobaric conditions, enalaprilat increased carotid artery compliance
from 3.0 ± 0.4 to 5.0 ± 0.4 × 10 10
N 1 · m 4 ( P = 0.001)
and decreased the carotid artery stiffness index from 17.5 ± 1.8 to 10.1 ± 0.6 units ( P = 0.001), whereas the
vehicle had no effect. Thus angiotensin II is associated with reduced carotid arterial compliance in patients with congestive heart failure,
and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition improves arterial elastic
properties. This favorable effect on the pulsatile component of
afterload may contribute to the improvement in left ventricular
performance that occurs in patients with heart failure treated with
angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.
carotid arteries; angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0363-6135 1522-1539 |
DOI: | 10.1152/ajpheart.00820.2001 |