Effects of the Captopril- Calcium Combination in the Management of Dexamethasone-Induced Hypertension in Adult Male Wistar Rats; Its Effect on the Kidney Function and Thyroid Gland

Background: Hypertension is a major cause of clinical and preclinical damage to the kidneys, heart, and other body organs. Damage to these organs manifests as cardiovascular diseases, impaired renal disease, heart failure, stroke, etc. Cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of death in the world. Objective: This study evaluated the antihypertensive effect of the co-administration of calcium and captopril on dexamethasone-induced hypertension in adult male Wistar rats on Systolic blood pressure, Histology of the kidney, Oxidative stress level in the kidney; Catalase (CAT), Glutathione (GSH) and Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Lipid peroxidation level in the kidney (malondialdehyde (MDA), Thyroid gland histology and Renal function: urea and creatinine. Methods: Twenty-five male Wistar rats weighing 160g-200g were randomly grouped into 5 groups of 5 rats each; control group A(distilled water only), test group B (0.5 mg/kg dexamethasone injection), test group C (0.5 mg/kg dexamethasone injection and 150mg/kg calcium), test group D (0.5 mg/kg dexamethasone injection and 40mg/kg captopril tablet), test group E (0.5 mg/kg dexamethasone injection, 40mg/kg captopril tablet and 150 mg/kg of calcium after thirty minutes). Results: The combination of calcium and captopril resulted in the restoration of the kidney function loss as seen in the histology of the kidney and thyroid gland. While the administration of captopril only showed more effectiveness in the treatment of systolic blood pressure. Conclusion: These results showed that the combination of Calcium and Captopril may be used in the treatment of organ damaged by hypertension while Captopril is a potent antihypertensive.