The Effects of Chronic Treatment with Captopril in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR) and their Offspring

Ten consanguine monogamous SHR couples (G1) were treated from their 5th to their 37th week of age with captopril, 50 mg/kg/day i.p. Male rats were treated without interruption. Treatment was withheld in female rats from delivery to weaning. They were compared to ten similar SHR couples which were only daily i.p. injected with the same volume of solvent. Second (G2) generation rats (untreated) were studied. In G1 rats, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart weight/body weight (HW/BW) ratio were decreased, while heart rate (HR) was not changed. Plasma renin activity remained unchanged at 37 weeks of age though the treatment was effective. Parental treatment did not reduce SBP and HW/BW ratio in G2 rats. This indicates that reduction of hypertension in SHR is not enough to prevent hypertension development in the offspring of the treated rats.