P-155 EFFECT OF ANGIOII BLOCKADE WITH VALSARTAN AND BENAZEPRIL ON RENAL DAMAGE IN OBESE ZUCKER RATS Oscar Go ´mez, Paula Vieitez, Esther Ruiz, Olga Gonza ´lez-Albarra ´n, Gema Garcı ´a Romero de Tejada, Jose M Sancho, Rafael Garcı ´a-Robles. Endocrinology Dpt, Hospital Ramo ´n y Cajal, Madrid, Madrid, Spain; Medicina Dpt, Alcala ´ de Henares University, Alcala ´ de Henares, Madrid, Spain. Hypertension is a main factor risk factor for the progression of diabetic nephropathy. AngioII inhibition is well described that ameliorates this progression. In the present work, we investigated the effects of ARAII, Valsartan and the ACEI, Benazepril in monotheraphy and in combination at dif- ferent doses on the evolution of BP and renal expression of several growth factors in obese Zucker rats. Fifty five animals were divided in seven groups according to the treatment: CONTROL (vehicle, n=10); VAL-I, 2.28 mg/Kg/day, n=10); VAL-II, 22.8 mg/Kg/day, n=5); BEN-I (0.28 mg/Kg/day, n=10); BEN-II (2.28 mg/Kg/day, n=5); VAL-BEN-I, 2.28 0.28 mg/Kg/day, n=10); VAL-BEN-II (22.8 2.28 mg/Kg/day, n=5). Animals were followed during 8 months and systemic and renal parameters were measured periodically. At the end, animals were sacri- fied and in every kidney removed to evaluate the expression of TGF-1, TNF-, VEGF and PDGF- by western blot. All the treated groups showed a significant decrease of systolic and diastolic blood pressure vs. control group (p0.01), however no differences were observed among the treated ones. On the other hand, the expression of all the growth factors showed a gradation in decreased expression of the growth factors that attain maximum blockade in the VAL-BEN-II group (p0.01). These data indicate that angiotensin II blockade produces a nephropro- tective effect, in addition to the reducing blood pressure. Key Words: Growth factors, Valsartan, benazepril P-156 PREVALENCE OF RENAL INSUFFICIENCY IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS Munavvar Izhar, Nahla Hassabou, Renee Ellis, Arshad Asghar, Rajesh Nambiar, Pawan Chopra, Emad Basta, Gilberto Neri. Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush-Presbyterian-St.-Luke’s- Medical Center, Chicago, IL; Department of Internal Medicine, St.Anthony Memorial Health Center, Michigan City, MI; Department of Internal Medicine, Cook County Hospital, Chicago, IL. The finding of an altered renal function is assaociated with an increase in cardiovascular risk. Physicians need to pay more attention to assessment of renal damage in hypertensive patients. The objective of this retrospec- tive analyses is to estimate the prevalence of mild chronic renal insuffi- ciency (MCRI) in hypertensive patients seen at our tertiary referral clinic. We analyzed clinical and biochemical data from 400 essential hyperten- sive patients followed at our clinic. Mild Chronic Renal insufficiency was defined as a serum creatinine 1.5 mg/dl in men and 1.4 mg/dl in women, or a creatinine clearance estimated by the Cockroft-Gault for- mula. A prevalence of mild chronic renal insufficiency was found in 8% of the patients according to serum creatinine levels. However, this prevalence increased to 18.5% when the diagnostic criteria for chronic renal insufficiency was the estimation using the Cockcroft-Gault formula. The presence of renal insufficiency is more prevalent than previously thought. This is especially true if the estimated creatinine clearance (Cockroft-Gault formula) is considered routinely in the evaluation of all hypertensive patients. Still better would be a creatinine clearance esti- mation by 24 hour urine collection.Altered renal function is associated with a significant increase in cardiovascular risk. Hence, there is an increased need to pay attention to manifestations of renal damage in the assessment of hypertensive patients. Key Words: Renal insufficiency, hypertension P-157 BASELINE SERUM CREATININE LEVELS PREDICT RENAL HEMODYNAMIC RESPONSE TO SHORT- TERM ENDURANCE EXERCISE TRAINING IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HYPERTENSIVES Jennifer M Jones, David Vizcaino, Thomas C Dowling, Matthew R Weir, Jennifer J Johnson, Jung-Jun Park, Brian D Hand, Thomas Obisesan, Michael D. Brown. Department of Kinesiology, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD; Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD; Department of Medicine, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD; Department of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC. Hypertension and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are thought to be pathologically linked, in which renal dysfunction may contribute to, or be the result of hypertension. Aerobic exercise training (AEX) has been shown to improve effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) in hypertensive Japanese subjects. The purpose of the present study was to determine if the initial level of kidney function, as indicated by baseline serum creatinine concentration, would contribute to renal hemodynamic response to short-term endurance exercise training in African Amer- ican (AA) hypertensives. Eleven (7 women, 4 men) sedentary, mod- erately obese, nondiabetic, hypertensive (SBP 1483 mmHg, DBP 893 mmHg) AA (mean age 59.61.2 years) completed 7 consecu- tive days of AEX for 50 min/day at 65% of heart rate reserve. Fasting blood chemistries and serum creatinine levels were measured at baseline, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and ERPF were measured during continuous infusion of iothalamate and PAH, respectively, before and after AEX. Average baseline serum creatinine concentra- tion was 1.040.06 (range 0.8-1. 4 mg/dl). Short-term AEX did not change average GFR (125.2  6.9 vs. 130.3  9.0 ml/min/1.73 m2, P=0.37; range -23 to +27%) or ERPF (452.2  26.5 vs. 449.1  38.8 ml/min/1.73 m2, P=0.87; range -35 to +12%). There was a signifi- cant inverse relationship between baseline serum creatinine concen- tration and the % change in GFR (r= -0.63, P=0.04), and a trend toward an inverse relationship between baseline serum creatinine and % change in ERPF (r= -0.55, P=0.08), with short-term AEX. Sub- jects with baseline serum creatinine  1.1 mg/dl increased GFR with short-term AEX and those with serum creatinine 1.1 mg/dl de- creased GFR. In addition, the baseline GFR was also predictive of the % change in GFR (r =-0.42, P=0.05). The results indicate that GFR and ERPF responses to short-term AEX are affected by baseline serum creatinine level. Depending on a hypertensive individual’s initial level Demographic and Clinical Data N MEAN SD Age (years) 400 51.9 10.46 Males 220 (55%) Females 180 (45%) Weight (Kg) 400 70.28 11.94 Diabetes 60 (15%) SBP (mm Hg) 400 152.74 22.97 DBP (mm Hg) 400 93.78 12.06 Serum Creatinine 400 1.18 0.28 95A AJH–May 2003–VOL. 16, NO. 5, PART 2 POSTERS: Kidney and Hypertension