Why the study?
Does prazosin 3 mg/day alter plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone levels in hypertensive patients?
Does prazosin 3 mg/day alter plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone levels in hypertensive patients?
Chronic prazosin treatment effectively lowers blood pressure in hypertensive patients without inducing reflex sympathetic overactivity or aldosterone-mediated volume expansion.
Prazosin may lower BP without PRA/PA changes in hypertension; leaves open confirmation of mechanism and outcomes in randomized trials.
The effects of chronic prazosin treatment (3 mg/day for three weeks) on plasma renin activity (PRA) and plasma aldosterone (PA) levels were evaluated in 12 hypertensive patients, under conditions of metabolic balance. After three weeks of drug administration no significant change occurred in PRA as well as PA levels, with respect to pretreatment values, both in basal conditions and following 2 hours of ambulation. No change was observed in heart rate, while a fall in both systolic (P less than 0.02) and diastolic (P less than 0.05) blood pressure occurred in supine as well as in deambulation-stimulating condition. A mild increase in body weight (P less than 0.05) and a decrease in serum sodium (P less than 0.05) was induced by prazosin treatment. These findings are in keeping with the pharmacologic properties of prazosin, which is a selective blocker of postsynaptic alpha adrenoreceptors and therefore lowers vascular resistance without reflex sympathetic overactivity. The moderate volume expansion after prazosin does not appear to be aldosterone mediated.
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Barbieri et al. (1981) studied this question.
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