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Cardiovascular Research 1987 21(10):725-729; doi:10.1093/cvr/21.10.725
© 1987 by European Society of Cardiology
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Copyright © 1987, European Society of Cardiology

Improved myocardial capillarisation in spontaneously hypertensive rats treated with nifedipine

ZDENEK TUREK*, KAREL KUBAT{dagger}, STANISLAV KAZDA{ddagger}, LOUIS HOOFD* and KAREL RAKUSAN§

*From the Department of Physiology, Catholic University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
{dagger}From the Department of Pathological Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
{ddagger}From the Institute of Pharmacology, Bayer AG, Wuppertal, Federal Republic of Germany
§Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The effect of long term administration of nifedipine on myocardial capillarity was studied in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Nifedipine was given for 20 weeks, mixed into commercial rat chow (0.3 g per 1 kg). Untreated spontaneously hypertensive rats had higher arterial blood pressure and developed cardiomegaly when compared with Wistar-Kyoto rats used as controls. Nifedipine administration in spontaneously hypertensive rats lowered the arterial blood pressure and reduced cardiac weight; however, both values remained far above those for controls. Myocardial capillarity was determined using the recently introduced method of capillary domains. Hearts from untreated spontaneously hypertensive rats were characterised by greater and more variable intercapillary spacing than those from controls. The treatment of spontaneously hypertensive rats with nifedipine resulted in normalisation of morphometric indices characterising capillary spacing, probably as a result of stimulation of capillary growth as indicated by a significant decrease in myocyte to capillary ratio. Thus, despite persistent hypertension and cardiomegaly the treatment of spontaneously hypertensive rats with nifedipine restored mean intercapillary distance and index of heterogeneity of capillary spacing to normal values.

KEYWORDS myocardial capillarisation; heterogeneity of capillary spacing; nifedipine; hypertension; cardiomegaly

Address for correspondence and reprints: Dr Z Turek, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.


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