Deterioration of renal function is a major concern during treatment by converting enzyme inhibitors of hypertensive kidney recipients with transplant renal artery stenosis. However, there has been no assessment of the frequency of this complication and its specificity for converting enzyme inhibitors as compared to other antihypertensive drugs. The effect of acute administration of captopril on mean arterial pressure, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (creatinine clearance) and effective renal plasma flow (clearance of 131I-hippuran) was assessed in eight hypertensive patients with transplant renal artery stenosis. Captopril induced a decrease in mean arterial pressure (128 +/- 6-121 +/- 7 mmHg) and a reduction in GFR (59 +/- 8-44 +/- 8 ml/min per 1.73 m2, P less than 0.05). The decrease in GFR was observed in seven out of eight patients and varied between 0% and 100% of the pre-captopril value. Effective renal plasma flow was maintained (157 +/- 47-141 +/- 24 ml/min per 1.73 m2) and filtration fraction decreased by 15 +/- 7%. The effect of captopril was compared to that of nifedipine (N = 20 mg) in four patients. Despite a larger decrease in mean arterial pressure (130 +/- 7-109 +/- 10 mmHg), no reduction in GFR was observed (68 +/- 13-71.4 +/- 8). Effective renal plasma flow was unchanged and filtration function slightly increased. Surgical or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in five patients suppressed the captopril-induced decrease in GFR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)