Effects of Antihypertensive Drugs on Specific Harmonic Indices of the Pulse Waveform in Normotensive Wistar Kyoto Rats

Abstract

We used a self-comparison method and harmonic analysis to compare the blood pressure wave before and after the injection of antihypertensive drugs (atenolol, captopril, and losartan) in normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased significantly after the intraperitoneal injection of drugs. Atenolol significantly reduced all the harmonic proportions of the pulse wave, while captopril and losartan significantly increased the first and fourth harmonic proportions. These findings are the same as those reported for human subjects and confirm that harmonic analysis of the pressure pulse is a useful method to study the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs.

• animal model
• harmonic analysis
• captopril
• losartan
• atenolol
• Wistar Kyoto rats

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors thank the National Science Council of ROC for supporting this work (Grant No. NSC 97-2112-M-003 –006-MY3).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.