Impact of antihypertensive therapy on the skeleton: effects of enalapril and AT1 receptor antagonist losartan in female rats.

No data are available about the effects of AT1 receptor antagonist losartan on the skeleton and there is also little information on the activity of an ACE inhibitor enalapril on bone metabolism. It is widely believed that the vasculature plays an important role in bone remodeling under normal and pathological conditions. We treated 14-week-old female Wistar rats with losartan, enalapril or saline. Administration of the ACE inhibitor enalapril and angiotensin II antagonist losartan had no effect on total malondialdehyde (MDA) in the blood and on urinary excretion of some eicosanoids and their metabolites. The administration of enalapril and losartan in a dose recommended for the treatment of hypertension did not cause significant changes in bone density, the ash and mineral content or morphometric parameters of the femur compared to the values found in control female rats.