To investigate the effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor captopril, calcium channel blocker diltiazem and β-adrenoceptor antagonist dobutamine on the permeability of rat aortic endothelial monolayers.Methods Trauma-free isolation by Chen et al was adopted in the culture of rat aortic endothelial cells. Rat aortic endothelial cells were seeded on the nitrocellulose microporous filters. Eight days after seeding, the monolayers could be used for measuring the permeability. Before being perfused, monolayers were treated with captopril, diltiazem and dobutamine for 4 hours successively. The prepared filters were mounted on the Boydon chambers and perfused with hyperlipemia containing FITC-labeled albumin. The fluid filtering through the monolayers and the filter was collected and the albumin concentration was measured. At the same time, cholesterol, triglyceride, lipoprotein A and lipoprotein B concentrations of the collected fluid were also measured by ELISA.Results The above three drugs decreased the permeability of aortic endothelial cell monolayers to water, cholesterol, triglyceride lipoprotein A and lipoprotein B significantly. Dobutamine had more significant effects than the other two drugs. But diltiazem worked well in the clearance of albumin, while the other two drugs had no obvious effect.Conclusion Captopril, diltiazem and dobutamine may decrease the infiltration of lipids and lipoproteins into the subendothelial space, thus they can be used to prevent and ameliorate atherosclerosis. To investigate the effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor captopril, calcium channel blocker diltiazem and β-adrenoceptor antagonist dobutamine on the permeability of rat aortic endothelial monolayers. Methods Trauma-free isolation by Chen et al was adopted in the culture of rat aortic endothelial cells. Eight days after seeding, the monolayers could be used for measuring the permeability. Before being perfused, monolayers were treated with captopril, diltiazem and dobutamine for 4 hours successively. The prepared filters were mounted on the Boydon chambers and perfused with hyperlipemia containing FITC-labeled albumin. The fluid filtering through the monolayers and the filter was collected and the albumin concentrations was measured. At the same time, cholesterol, triglyceride, lipoprotein A and lipoprotein B concentrations of the collected fluid were also measured by ELISA. Results The above Three drugs decreased the permeability of aortic endothelial cell monolayers to water, cholesterol, triglyceride lipoprotein A and lipoprotein B significantly. Dobutamine had more significant effects than the other two drugs. But diltiazem worked well in the clearance of albumin, while the other two drugs had no obvious effect. Confocal Captopril, diltiazem and dobutamine may decrease the infiltration of lipids and lipoproteins into the subendothelial space, thus they can be used to prevent and ameliorate atherosclerosis.