Antihypertensive drugs and the nervous system: ACE-inhibitors restore oscillatory potentials in hypertensives.

The authors have previously reported that oscillatory potentials (O.P.) of the electroretinogram are impaired in essential hypertensive patients before the appearance of funduscopic changes. They can therefore be considered an early marker of the nervous damage induced by hypertension. Aim of this study was to evaluate whether an antihypertensive regimen could influence the progression of this damage. O.P. were recorded in 35 essential hypertensives before antihypertensive treatment and after one-year treatment. The patients were randomly allocated into 4 treatment groups: 1) beta-blockers 2) ACE-Inhibitors 3) calcium antagonists 4) no pharmacological treatment. At the end of the study, blood pressure was significantly decreased in all but group 4. O.P., similar in the 4 groups at the beginning, were significantly higher at the end of the study only in patients treated with ACE-inhibitors. The results of this study suggest that although all hypotensive agents reduced blood pressure only ACE-I showed a protective effect on the retinal electric electrophysiology in hypertensive patients.