Pharmacoklnetic and phannacodynamic variability largely account for interindividual differences in the response to antihypertensive drugs including angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. The factors determining the response to enalapril have been investigated in a placebo-controlled study in essential hypertension. The effects of placebo, the initial dose of enalapril, and long-term (1 and 6 weeks) treatment with enalapril were studied in 13 subjects. By using an integrated kinetic-dynamic model that incorporates a parameter for saturable protein binding, individual responses for blood pressure reduction and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition were characterized in terms of the maximum effect (E^J and the drug concentration required to produce 50% of E M (0,50). In individual subjects, plasma enalaprilat concentrations could be correlated with falls in blood pressure and changes in plasma angiotensin converting enzyme activity. For the group, E^, was -46.1 ±16.5 and -19.7 ±3.8 mm Hg for systolic and dlastolic blood pressure, respectively, and the corresponding C,50 values were 66.1 ±20.2 and 61.6 ±22.5 ng/ml. For angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition, £ " , (%) and C.50 (ng/ml) were, respectively, 102.4±5 and 19.8±13 after the first dose, 103±5 and 33.4±20J after 1 week, and 101 J±2.2 and 31 J±18.9 after 6 weeks. There was no relation between the responsiveness to enalapril ( E^ or C.50) and patient age or plasma renin activity, but there was a significant positive correlation between E^ and the pretreatment blood pressure. In individual subjects, E^ (first dose) was directly correlated with E mM1 after 1 and 6 weeks. This study, which incorporated kinetic as well as dynamic information to characterize the antihypertensive response to enalapril, has identified enalaprilat concentration-effect relations in individual hypertensive subjects. 3 Qinical studies have shown large interindividual differences in the effect of an ACE inhibitor on blood pressure and the renin-angiotensin system, particularly after the first dose, but little attempt has been made to quantify and optimize the response in individual subjects. 4 There is some evidence that reduction of blood pressure and inhibition of plasma ACE activity are dose-dependent, 5 " 7 but no consistent concentrationeffect relation has been established between plasma drug (or active metabolite) concentration and blood pressure reduction or ACE inhibition. Received May 1, 1989; accepted in revised form October 30, 1989. this is likely to reflect the wide range of intersubject variability in pharmacokinetic responses, particularly when group data are evaluated, there is preliminary evidence that concentration-effect relations for ACE inhibitors can be more readily identified when individual subjects are considered.
-13This study uses integrated pharmacokineticpharmacodynamic modeling 14 to investigate and characterize the antihypertensive responses and concentration-effect relations during acute and chronic treatment with enalapril in patients with esse...