Contribution of bradykinin to maintenance of blood pressure and renal blood flow in anaesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats.

We used a newly synthesized competitive antagonist of bradykinin (B 4147) to determine whether bradykinin contributes to the maintenance of blood pressure and renal blood flow in anaesthetized Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The injection of B 4147 (50 micrograms, intravenously) caused an increase in blood pressure and a decrease in renal blood flow in both strains. However, the magnitude in the change in blood pressure was significantly lower in SHR than in WKY. The reduction of renal blood flow was greater in WKY than in SHR, but there was no significant difference in the basal renal blood flow. These results indicate that bradykinin contributes to the maintenance of blood pressure and renal blood flow in both strains. However, bradykinin antagonist produced a more prominent systemic effect in WKY than in SHR. This suggests that a deficiency in the bradykinin system in SHR contributes to the development or the maintenance of hypertension.