AIMS The optimal dosing strategies for blocking the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) are poorly known. We sought to determine the long-term efficacy and safety of supramaximal titration of benazepril and valsartan in patients with IDCM. METHODS AND RESULTS 480 patients with IDCM in New York Heart Association functional class II-IV and with left ...

Lowering elevated blood pressure (BP) in diabetic hypertensive individuals decreases cardiovascular events. We questioned whether remodeling of resistance arteries from hypertensive diabetic patients would improve after 1 year of tight BP control with addition of either the angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) valsartan or the beta-blocker (BB) atenolol to previous therapy, which included angiote...

INTRODUCTION We investigated the feasibility of using a fluorescence resonance energy transfer system to image enzymatic activity in order to evaluate the effects of aliskiren (a direct renin inhibitor) on diabetic nephropathy. MATERIALS AND METHODS First, we induced diabetes in C57BL/6J mice using streptozotocin, then treated them with either aliskiren (25 mg/kg/day) or the angiotensin type ...

Pulmonary venous isolation has emerged as an effective therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF); however, AF recurrence is common. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) on the recurrence rate of AF following ablation therapy. In total, 120 patients, who were scheduled for ablation, were randomly selected. The patients were randomly divide...

To clarify the possible involvement of uninhibited angiotensin II (Ang II) type 2 (AT(2)) receptor stimulation in the effects of an Ang II type 1 (AT(1)) receptor blocker, valsartan, we examined the cardiovascular remodeling induced by aortic banding with the use of wild-type (Agtr2+) and AT(2) receptor null (Agtr2-) mice. Aortic banding caused cardiac hypertrophy in Agtr2+ and Agtr2- mice to a...

A reliable, simple, and robust liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectro-metric (LC-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated that employs solid-phase extraction for the simultaneous estimation of amlodipine and valsartan in human K3EDTA plasma using amlodipine-d4 and valsartan-d9 as internal standards. Chromatographic separation of amlodipine and valsartan was achieved on the Luna C18 (2)...

Previous studies have shown that angiotensin II stimulates the synthesis of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 in cultured vascular cells, which suggests that activation of the renin-angiotensin system may impair fibrinolysis. We have investigated the effects of angiotensin II and of valsartan, a recently developed angiotensin II antagonist that is highly specific and selective for the angiotens...

Introduction: Hypertension is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and is associated with several metabolic disorders like dyslipidemia. Drugs that control blood pressure effectively can increase the potentially atherogenic serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol fraction and triglycerides. In view of the available literature, the present study was undertaken to compare ...

BACKGROUND Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and the angiotensin-receptor blocker valsartan ameliorate ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). Based on previous clinical trials, a maximum clinical dose is recommended in practical guidelines. Yet, has not been clearly demonstrated whether the recommended dose is more efficacious compared to the lower dose that is commonly...

The potential effects of angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) on adipose tissue biology and body weight are of considerable interest, because these agents are frequently used to treat hypertension in patients who are prone to visceral obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. In rats fed a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, we compared the effects of 2 ARBs, telmisartan and valsartan, on...