Effects of atorvastatin on serum endothelin and nitric oxide levels in patients with essential hypertension

AIM To investigate the effects of atorvastatin(AS) on serum endothelin(ET) and serum nitric oxide (NO) leveb in patients with essential hypertension(EH).METHODS Eighty patients with EH were divided randomly into 2 groups:(1) conventional therapeutic group(conventional treatment of blood pressure control,40 patients);(2) atorvastatin therapeutic group(treatment with additional AS for 3 months,40 patients).The serum levels of ET and NO were measured before and after treatment.In addition,30 healthy volunteers joined the study as the control.The serum levels of ET and NO were determined before treatment and after treatment.RESULTS The serum ET levels in EH were significantly higher than those of control(P0.01) and NO levels were significantly lower than those of control(P0.01).The serum levels in conventional therapeutic group and atorvastatin therapeutic group after treatment were significantly lower than those before treatment(P0.05),whereas serum NO levels were higher than those before treatment (P0.05).Compared with conventional therapeutic group,there were significant descent of ET and ascent of NO after treatment in atorvastatin therapeutic group(P0.05).CONCLUSION Treatment with atrovastatin can produce a protective effect on the function of vascular endothelium in EH patients.