Kinetics of beneficial effect of pentoxifylline on persistent forms of arterial hypertension.

In some hypertensive patients a high level of arterial pressure proved resistant to the effect of Ca-antagonists. However, the addition of therapeutic doses of Pentoxifylline caused a significant decrease of blood pressure. The arterial pressure changes were found to be correlated with the index of erythrocyte aggregability (investigated using a highly sensitive "Georgian technique") in these patients. Thus, a pathogenetic link between blood pressure and hemorheological disorders could be conjectured. For a better understanding of the mechanism of these events the direct effect of Pentoxifylline on erythrocyte aggregability was investigated in vitro by using the blood samples of hypertensive patients possessing hemorheological disorders. The obtained results showed that the effect of Pentoxifylline (in therapeutic doses) was direct and that the dose-effect dependence was linear. From the obtained results we concluded that the beneficial effect of Pentoxifylline in hypertensive patients resistant to Ca-blockers is attained by eliminating the immediate cause of blood rheological disorders, the enhanced erythrocyte aggregability.