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Increased blood pressure (BP), especially sudden, unexpected and severe rises in women with preeclampsia considerably increases the risk of peripartum complications. A specific quantitative criterion for diagnosing labile blood pressure does not exist and minimal evidence is available to guide therapeutic decisions.

To assess the effect of antihypertensives commonly used to manage hypertension in pregnant women on blood pressure lability at rest in an experimental model of preeclampsia (EPE).

EPE was established in Papio hamadryas (n = 6) by surgically ligating the non-dominant uterine branch artery to reduce perfusion by 30–40%. EPE was confirmed by assessing proteinuria (urine protein:creatinine ratio mmol/L), BP changes (intra-arterial radiotelemetry) and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase receptor-1 (sFLT-1) (ELISA). BP readings were collected every 20 s before and after …