Amlodipine is the third generation calcium antagonist, 1,4-dihydropyridine derivative with the prolonged duration of the antihypertensive action, especially blocking L-type Ca ion channels. It promotes beneficial therapeutic effect by coronary and other blood vessel diseases and thus delays development of the atherosclerosis. It has several known trade names, the most mentioned is Norvasc. Amlo...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES When monotherapy is inadequate for blood pressure control, the next step is either to continue monotherapy in increased doses or to add another antihypertensive agent. However, direct comparison of double-dose monotherapy versus combination therapy has rarely been done. The objective of this study is to compare 10 mg of amlodipine with an amlodipine/valsartan 5/160 mg ...

Amlodipine is a calcium channel antagonist of the dihydropyridine group. It is effective for treating hypertension, chronic stable angina, and vasospastic angina. However, it is difficult clinically to pinpoint the maximum dosage for antihypertensive activity of the drug without having parallel data on the plasma drug concentrations. The methods for assaying amlodipine are either gas chromatogr...

BACKGROUND Guidelines for the management of hypertension recommend the use of drugs with different mechanisms of action in antihypertensive regimens that include single-pill fixed-dose combinations of medications. There is some controversy regarding which single-pill fixed-dose combinations of angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockers (ARBs) and calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are effective at re...

Calcium antagonists are known to reduce the incidence of high-altitude pulmonary oedema, but the mechanism is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the calcium antagonist, amlodipine, on cardiac and respiratory responses in normoxia and hypoxia. Fourteen normal subjects aged 31+/-4 yrs who had climbed to altitudes of 5,000-7,500 m without problems were randomly assigned t...

OBJECTIVE Delays in achieving blood pressure (BP) control may increase morbidity and mortality in patients with hypertension. Thus, deciding which antihypertensive agent to use and at what dosage, in addition to determining when to initiate combination therapy and which agents to combine, is important for achieving BP control. METHODS This randomized, double-blind, 14-week study was conducted...

Eplerenone is a highly selective aldosterone blocker, which is under development for the treatment of hypertension and heart failure. To assess its usefulness in older patients with systolic hypertension and widened pulse pressure, we compared the effects of eplerenone with amlodipine, on clinic blood pressure (BP) and pulse pressure and in a subset of the patients, ambulatory BP, vascular comp...

Information is scarce regarding the effects of amlodipine or hydrochlorothiazide therapy on serum and urine electrolyte profiles in hypertensive Nigerians with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, to evaluate whether amlodipine or hydrochlorothiazide would be preferable to initiate treatment, we randomized 40 newly diagnosed hypertensive subjects with controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus aged 43...

BACKGROUND This study examined the effects of chronic amlodipine treatment on left ventricular (LV) pump function, systemic hemodynamics, neurohormonal status, and regional blood flow distribution in an animal model of congestive heart failure (CHF) both at rest and with treadmill exercise. In an additional series of in vitro studies, LV myocyte contractile function was examined. METHODS AND ...

CONTEXT The effect of antihypertensive drugs on cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and normal blood pressure remains uncertain. OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of amlodipine or enalapril vs placebo on cardiovascular events in patients with CAD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Double-blind, randomized, multicenter, 24-month trial (enrollment April 1999-Ap...