Abstract: AIM: To investigate the effects of carvedilol on vascular endothelial function in patients with essential hypertension. METHODS: Flow-mediated endothelium- dependent dilation (FMD) and nitroglycerin-mediated endothelium-independent dilation (NTGMD) were assessed by high-resolution ultrasound technique in the brachial artery of 16 or 19 patients with essential hypertension treatment using metoprolol or carvedilol for 12 weeks, respectively;18 healthy cases were taken as controls. The plasma concentrations of ox-LDL were measured before and after taking carvedilol for the patients. RESULTS: FMD values in healthy controls were higher than those of hypertensive patients before taking metoprolol or carvedilol (P <0.01).No significant differences were found in NTGMD among 3 groups.After treatment with carvedilol for 12 weeks, the FMD values were improved significantly from (4.7 ±1.3) % to (7.4 ± 1.5) % (P <0.01), and plasma concentration of ox- LDL was decreased significantly from 0.64 ± 0.16 μg·L ^-1 to 0.52 ±0.15 μg·L ^-1 (P <0.05).No significant differences were found in NTGMD of the patients treated with metoprolol or carvedilol. CONCLUSION: Carvedilol can improve endothelium-dependent vasodilation in patients with essential hypertension through a mechanism probably related to an antioxidant effect.

Key words: pharmacodyamics, carvedilol, essential hypertension, endothelium-dependent vasodilation