Effect of Long Term Isradipine Treatment on the Morphology of the Endothelium in the Aorta of Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Abstract

The influence of hypertension and of treatment with the dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker isradipine on the morphology of the thoracic aorta and of the aortic tunica intima were studied. Three experimental groups of male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) of 10 weeks of age were used. Two groups were treated with a daily oral dose of 0.01 mg/Kg or of 0.1 mg/Kg of isradipine respectively. A third group of SHR was left untreated and served as control. Age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were used as a reference group. Animals were allowed to survive for 12 weeks and were killed at 22 weeks of age.

Key Words:

• Aorta
• endothelium
• hypertension
• isradipine
• SHR