Prevention of DOCA-salt hypertension with the calcium blocker nitrendipine.

Mononephrectomized female rats on a high sodium intake developed hypertension, hypokalemia, enlarged hearts and kidneys and slight adrenal involution under deoxycorticosterone treatment. Simultaneous administration of nitrendipine (5 mg/kg twice daily) completely prevented hypertension and reduced but did not abolish cardiac enlargement. There was no effect of the calcium slow-channel inhibitor on kidney enlargement, adrenal atrophy or hypokalemia. The ability of the steroid to produce cardiomegaly in the absence of an elevated blood pressure to account for it, tends to confirm the suggestion of other investigators that the steroid may have that effect by a mechanism not involving blood pressure elevation.