Hemodynamic effects of prolonged treatment with diltiazem in conscious normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats.

To determine systemic and regional hemodynamic effects of prolonged treatment with the calcium antagonist diltiazem (30 mg/kg twice daily by gastric gavage, for 3 weeks), data from 12 Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and 10 spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats were compared with those obtained from 11 WKY and 10 SHR controls treated with the vehicle. Systemic and regional hemodynamics were determined in the conscious, unrestrained state using the reference sample microsphere method. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) decreased in SHR by 9% (183 +/- 4 to 167 +/- 4 mm Hg; p less than 0.05) but remained unchanged in WKY, while cardiac index (CI) tended to decrease in both strains; heart rate fell by 15% only in WKY (481 +/- 10 to 354 +/- 13 beats/min; p less than 0.05). Total peripheral resistance index (TPRI) tended to decrease in SHR but to increase in WKY. Organ blood flow in SHR decreased in skin and splanchnic organs, while organ vascular resistance decreased in brain and increased in splanchnic organs. In contrast, organ blood flow increased in heart and decreased in kidneys and skin of the WKY, while organ vascular resistance decreased in heart and increased in kidneys and skin. Thus, diltiazem produced nonuniform and different hemodynamic effects in the two strains. Further, diltiazem did not alter the cardiac mass in either rat strain. We therefore conclude that diltiazem demonstrated a mild hypotensive effect in SHR that was associated with slight reductions in CI and TPRI, the latter being nonuniformly distributed in the component organ circulations.