Our study was designed to determine whether the calcium channel antagonists verapamil, diltiazem, and nifedipine and the nitrate vasodilator sodium nitroprusside modulate carotid sinus (CS) baroreflex control of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR). Pentobarbital-anesthetized, vagotomized dogs were surgically prepared for reversible vascular isolation of the CS regions. Open-loop pe...

We administered ghrelin, a novel growth hormone-releasing hormone, to isolated perfused rat hearts, coronary arterioles, and cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes to determine its effects on coronary vascular tone, contractility, and natriuretic peptide secretion and gene expression. We also determined cardiac levels of ghrelin and whether the heart is a source of the circulating peptide. Ghrelin do...

Background. Silent myocardial ischemia is an adverse prognostic marker in patients with coronary disease; however, controlled data on the effect of treatment are sparse and contradictory, and the relations among the occurrence of ST segment depression, drug efficacy, and heart rate are unclear. Methods and Results. Sixty patients with stable coronary artery disease, a positive treadmill exercis...

PURPOSE Atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response (RVR) is common during critical illness. In this study, we explore the comparative effectiveness of three commonly used drugs (metoprolol, diltiazem, and amiodarone) in the management of atrial fibrillation with RVR in the intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS Data pertaining to the first ICU admission were extracted from the Medical In...

We have recently shown that felodipine, a long-acting dihydropyridine L-type calcium channel blocker (CCB), up-regulates nitric oxide (NO) production and endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) expression and activity in cultured endothelial cells as well as in animals with chronic renal failure. This study was intended to compare the effects of prototypes of the three classes of L-type CCBs on the NO s...

BACKGROUND The authors investigated the role of different voltage-sensitive calcium channels expressed at presynaptic afferent terminals in substance P release and on nociceptive behavior evoked by intraplantar formalin by examining the effects of intrathecally delivered N- (ziconotide), T- (mibefradil), and L-type voltage-sensitive calcium channel blockers (diltiazem and verapamil). METHODS ...

OBJECTIVE Supraventricular tachyarrhythmias (SVT) complicate postoperative management after coronary bypass surgery in about 30% of all patients. Though a prophylactic treatment both with beta-adrenergic blocking agents and the calcium antagonist diltiazem has been used for the prevention of post-operative SVT, no study yet has performed a prospective comparison of the efficacy of these therapi...

The effect of diltiazem on the development of infarcts was investigated in porcine hearts. The left anterior descending coronary artery was occluded in each of 32 anesthetized pigs for 75 min and was reperfused for 4 hr. Diltiazem (15 micrograms/kg X min) was infused in 11 pigs for 30 min before occlusion (therapy A) and in another eight pigs before reperfusion (therapy B). Eleven pigs served a...