Effects of isradipine on intravenous cocaine-induced cardiovascular response: a pilot study

✍ Scribed by Bankole Johnson; Lynda Wells; Paul Kenny; David Abramson; Richard Chen; Sukhjinder Dhother; Dennis Overton; Patrick Bordnick

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 115 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199901)14:1<37::aid-hup62>3.0.co;2-t

✦ Synopsis

We examined the eects of isradipine, a dihydropyridine-class calcium channel antagonist, and eective antihypertensive medication on the pressor eects of cocaine on cardiac function. Using continuous non-invasive cardiovascular monitoring of heart rate, blood pressure, electrocardiographic recordings, and peripheral oxygen saturation, six healthy cocaine addicts received the following treatments in blinded, crossover fashion: (a) placebo; (b) intravenous cocaine (0 . 325 mg/kg iv), and (c) isradipine (10 mg pXoX cocaine. While cocaine-taking was associated with a small increase in blood pressure, this eect was not signi®cantly aected by isradipine. Isradipine pretreatment was, however, associated with a signi®cant re¯ex rise in heart rate following cocaine. Cocaine administration with or without isradipine produced no clinically signi®cant abnormalities of rhythm or conduction on the electrocardiogram and on peripheral oxygen saturation. While these results should be considered preliminary, they do suggest that this isradipine dose and/or dosing strategy does not have a clinically signi®cant cardioprotective eect during cocaine-taking.