title: Effects of nifedipine on left ventricular diastolic function in hypertension; echo Doppler study.
abstract: Hypertensive cardiac disease shows early alteration of left ventricular diastolic filling, characterized by a longer isovolumetric relaxation period and by an altered E/A ratio on the mitral spectral Doppler. We chose ten hypertensive patients who had left ventricular hypertrophy, but no left ventricular dilatation or mitral valve insufficiency and had a good left ventricular shortening fraction (greater than 26%). After the washout period we studied each of the above-mentioned parameters before and after the acute administration of nifedipine, dinitrate isosorbide, and captopril. While captopril and dinitrate isosorbide induced a prolongation of the isovolumic relaxation time and an impairment of the E/A ratio in mitral spectral Doppler (i.e., left ventricular filling), nifedipine induced an improvement in both parameters. The three drugs also induced a similar reduction in systemic blood pressure values (i.e., similar afterload). We therefore suggest that changes in diastolic function in hypertrophied cardiac fibers, induced by nifedipine, may be the result of a double action: one mediated by hemodynamic changes, the other directly affecting the cellular calcium ion exchange.
authors.affiliation: Clinica Valle Giulia, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gambelli
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Amici
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Selvanetti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002216:Captopril / Q000494:pharmacology; D003971:Diastole / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007548:Isosorbide Dinitrate / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009543:Nifedipine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013997:Time Factors; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D002216:Captopril; D009543:Nifedipine; D007548:Isosorbide Dinitrate