In vivo Pharmacological Evaluation of Newly Synthesized Nonpeptidic $AT_1$ Receptor Antagonists in Rats

This study was conducted to characterize the in vivo pharmacology of KR-30988, KR-30992 and losartan, new AT antagonists, given as i.v. cumulative doses, in two antimal models of high renin, conscious renal artery-ligated hypertensinve rats (RHRs) and nomotensive rats anesthetized with urethane (90 mg/kg, i.p.) and .alpha.-chloralose (90 mg/kg, i.p.), with a special emphasis on the phamacological characterization of the latter model. In conscious RHRs, KR-30988, KR-30992, losartan and captopril caused a dose-dependent decrease in blood pressure, their relative potencise ($ED_{20}$) being 0.057, 0.028, 0164 and 0.018 mg/kg, i.v., repectively. In anesthetized rats, 2 hours after anesthesia, plasma renin activity was increased from 7.31 tp 34.07 ng/ml/h, the level approximately 1.5 times greater than the highest level in RHRs. In anesthtized rats, the $ED_{20}$s for all four compounds were 0.004 mg/kg i.v., respectively. By comparison, $ED_{20}$sfrom anesthetized rats were 4 to 5 times smaller than those from conscious RHRs, with a good correlation (.gamma. = 0.999) noted between thetized rats to the hypotensive activity of the compounds and the same order of potencies intwo models. These results suggest that, in addition to PHRs, the normotensive rats anesthetized as above can serve as a suitable model for the rapid phamacological evaluation of $AT_1$ receptor antagonists.