Nicousamide normalizes renovascular hypertension in two-kidney one-clip hypertensive rats

Nicousamide, a coumarin-aspirin compound, was proven to have a renal protective effect on diabetic and hypertensive nephropathy. The present study aimed to investigate the anti-hypertensive effect of nicousamide and its action mechanisms. The two-kidney one-clip (2K1C) hypertensive animal model was introduced in this study. Subsequent to treatment with nicousamide for three weeks, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured, and the plasma concentration of angiotensin II (Ang II), nitric oxide (NO), endothelin-1 (ET-1), nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) was examined. Results showed that nicousamide markedly decreased SBP as well as DBP on renovascular hypertensive rats (P<0.05). Nicousamide also reduced the Ang II and ET-1 concentration (P<0.05) in the plasma of hypertensive rats while increasing the plasma NO level (P<0.05). Nicousamide treatment did not show a marked effect on the NOS and CGRP concentrations in animal plasma (P>0.05).