Abstract

Captopril is a widely used anti-hypertensive drug that acts by inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme. This work has been carried out to investigate the effects of captopril on some common biochemical laboratory parametres in the sera of patients receiving the drug. For this study, 40 subjects were included, all within the age range of 40 to 63 years and with newly diagnosed essential hypertension. From each patient, two samples were taken, one immediately before the start of treatment and the second one taken two weeks later. The control group comprised 30 apparently healthy volunteers of comparable ages and genders. The biochemical parameters measured in the sera were glucose, total protein (TP), urea, creatinine, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), liver enzymes and creatine kinase (CK). Captopril exerted significant increases in the obtained readings for the concentrations of glucose, TP, urea, creatinine, TC, TG, AST and LDH. The increases in readings in the biochemical parameters may be attributable to chemical or to physical interactions. They could also be induced by physiological, enzymatic or by in vivo metabolic factors. By all means, these alterations that accompany captopril treatment must be taken into account by physicians and laboratory workers, to help avoid misinterpretation of laboratory data.

Key words: Captopril, biochemical laboratory tests, drug interactions.