High dose betablocker treatment in experimental renal hypertension (author's transl)

Rats with experimental renovascular hypertension were treated with high doses of beta-blocking agents. Pindolol 10 mg/kg per day increased Goldblatt-type hypertension, whereas Propranolol 100 mg/kg per day showed an antihypertensive effect. A linear correlation between the weight of the left-heart ventricle and the systolic blood pressure was found in animals treated with Pindolol as well as in untreated Goldblatt rats. On the contrary, the weights of the left-heart ventricle were significantly higher in those animals treated with Propranolol than in the other groups. The results show that Pindolol in high doses, possibly on account of its sympathomimetic activity, leads to an increase in Goldblatt hypertension, but does not influence the pressure-dependent progression of left-heart hypertrophy. On the other hand, Propranolol, possibly on account of a cardiodepressory effect, leads to a decrease in blood pressure.