PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
ED  - Vidt, Donald G.
AU  - Alan Bakst
AU  - David J. Triggle
TI  - Calcium-channel antagonists: mechanisms of action, vascular selectivities, and clinical relevance
DP  - 1992 Nov 01
TA  - Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine
PG  - 617--627
VI  - 59
IP  - 6
4099  - http://www.ccjm.org/content/59/6/617.short
4100  - http://www.ccjm.org/content/59/6/617.full
SO  - Cleve Clin J Med1992 Nov 01; 59
AB  - The calcium-channel antagonists represent three separate structural categories of drugs. They share a common action—the blockade of calcium-ion flow through one specific type of calcium channel. The chemical heterogeneity of these agents is reflected in their pharmacologic and therapeutic diversity. The calcium-channel antagonists enjoy significant use in cardiovascular medicine for the treatment of hypertension, angina, and some cardiac arrhythmias. However, the 1,4-dihydropyridines, the most potent antihypertensive calcium-channel blockers, lack antiarrhythmic properties. The selectivity of action of calcium-channel antagonists rests upon a number of factors, including pathways of calcium mobilization, types of channel activated, state-dependent interactions, and the pathological state of the tissue. A n understanding of these factors is important to the rational application of these drugs and to the development of newer agents with different specificities.