The transcripts of L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (CaV) 1.3 undergo extensive alternative splicing. Alternative splicing, particularly in the C terminus, drastically modifies gating properties of the channel. However, little is known about whether alternative splicing could modulate the pharmacologic properties of CaV1.3 in a manner similar to the paralogous CaV1.2. Here we undertook the...

Various 1and 2-substituted and 1,2-fused 1,4-dihydropyridine-5-phosphonate derivatives were designed and synthesized as analogues of 1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate, and their antihypertensive activities were examined. Several compounds proved to be equal or superior to nifedipine in lowering blood pressure in normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats. Among these compounds, 1-subs...

To examine mechanisms whereby the abundance of functional Ca channels may be regulated in excitable tissue, Ca channel number was estimated by binding of the dihydropyridine (DHP) antagonist 3H (+)PN200-110 to monolayers of intact myocytes from chick embryo ventricle. Beta adrenergic receptor properties were studied in cultured myocytes using [3H]CGP12177, an antagonist ligand. Physiological co...

The dihydropyridine (DHP) receptor of normal skeletal muscle is hypothesized to function as the voltage sensor for excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling, and also as the calcium channel underlying a slowly activating, DHP-sensitive current (termed ICa-s). Skeletal muscle from mice with muscular dysgenesis lacks both E-C coupling and ICa-s. However, dysgenic skeletal muscle does express a small ...

The isoquinoline alkaloids (IAs) represent a large and diverse subfamily of phytochemicals in terms structures pharmacological activities, including ion channel inhibition. Several IAs, such as liriodenine (an oxoaporphine) curine (a bisbenzylisoquinoline (BBIQ), inhibit the L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (LTCC). In this study, we aimed to search for new blockers LTCC, which are therapeutic...

The correlation between the binding of NZ-105, a newly synthesized 1,4-dihydropyridine (DHP) derivative, on DHP receptors and its inhibitory activity on transmembrane 45Ca2+ uptake was investigated. 3H-NZ-105 bound rabbit aortic microsomes more slowly than did 3H-nitrendipine (3H-NTD): the association and dissociation rate constants of 3H-NZ-105 were about 70 times and 10 times less than those ...

Single-channel properties of dihydropyridine (DHP)-sensitive calcium channels isolated from transverse tubular (T-tube) membrane of skeletal muscle were explored. Single-channel activity was recorded in planar lipid bilayers after fusion of highly purified rabbit T-tube microsomes. Two populations of DHP-sensitive calcium channels were identified. One type of channel (noninactivating) was activ...

Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP, ABCG2) is a recently identified member of the ATP-binding cassette family of cell surface transport proteins. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of a series of newly synthesized 1,4-dihydropyridines and pyridines, designed as potent P-glycoprotein inhibitors, on BCRP-mediated drug efflux both in vitro and in vivo. The effects of 25 synthes...

Abnormal accumulation of amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease progression. Practical limitations such as cost , poor hit rates and a lack of well characterized targets are a major bottle neck in the in vitro screening of a large number of chemical libraries and profiling them to identify Aβ inhibitors. We used a limited set of 1,4 dihydropyridine (DHP)-like c...