Dose-response relationships of ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II blockers.

It is difficult to establish dose-response relationships for ACE inhibitors in patients with hypertension or congestive heart failure. This has led to the widely held opinion that the effects of ACE inhibitors are hardly dose dependent. The purpose of this short discussion is to demonstrate that this class of compounds, as well as the more recent angiotensin II receptor antagonists, exhibit some very clear dose-response relationships when these are evaluated in normal volunteers based on the mechanisms for which they were designed. Characterization of these dose-response curves is important in order to use these drugs at their optimal dose and to obtain the maximal therapeutic benefit.