Endocrine effects of hypotension induced by nicardipine in rabbits

: Endocrine effects of hypotension induced by nicardipine, a calcium antagonist, were studied in 18 male rabbits under halothane anesthesia. They were randomly divided into two groups; nicardipine (group N; n = 10) and controls (group C; n = 8). No change was noted in plasma catecholamines in group C throughout the experiment, but plasma renin activity decreased progressively. During and after induced hypotension, in group N, plasma epinephrine was significantly higher than the control value. The highest level of plasma epinephrine was seven times of the control value during 30 minutes after induction of hypotension. Plasma norepinephrine of group N was significantly higher than the controls. The maximum increase occurred 60 minutes after induction of hypotension. Plasma renin activity of group N was significantly higher than the control value. Compared with the control value (15.1 +/- 1.8 ng.ml-1.hr-1), plasma renin activity was activated 30 and 60 minutes after induction of hypotension (55.5 +/- 6.0 ng.ml-1.hr-1, P less than 0.001, 50.3 +/- 7.1 ng.ml-1.hr-1, P less than 0.01, respectively). In conclusion, our data show that hypotension by nicardipine activates the renin-angiotensin-sympathetic system.