BACKGROUND Angiotensin II is elevated in malignant hypertension. We tested the hypothesis that angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockade can prevent the development of malignant hypertension even in the absence of a blood pressure-lowering effect. METHODS AND RESULTS Two-kidney, 1-clip rats were followed up for 28 days; blood pressure was measured by tail-cuff plethysmography and intra-arterial...

The hemodynamic mechanism of blood pressure response to angiotensin blockade is well established in "benign" but not in human malignant hypertension. We studied the changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP), cardiac index (CI), pulmonary wedge pressure (PWP), and in plasma volume (PV) induced by a single oral dose of captopril (150 mg) in 11 patients with malignant hypertension. Two hours after c...