Development of hypertension and life span in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats during oral long-term treatment with various antihypertensive drugs.

In stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats, oral long-term treatment with verapamil, propranolol, hydrochlorothiazide, and dihydralazine attenuated the development of hypertension. The various antihypertensive drugs caused comparable reductions in blood pressure but the calcium antagonist and the beta-receptor blocker prolonged the life span more than the diuretic and vasodilator. The relative heart and lung weights at the time of death were slightly diminished in the verapamil and the high-dose propranolol group. It is assumed that calcium antagonism and beta-receptor blockade prolong the life span, not only due to their blood-pressure-lowering mechanism, but also to the additional protective effects.