Effect of nifedipine on the adrenocortical and somatotrophic secretory reserve and TSH and thyroid hormone plasma levels.

The authors investigated the effect of one week's administration of therapeutic doses of the calcium antagonist nifedipine on the hormone homeostasis of clinically healthy subjects. The insignificant tendency towards an increase of the adrenocorticotrophic and somatotrophic secretory reserve and the unaltered levels of thyrotrophin, triiodothyronine and thyroxine rule out possible adverse side-effects of the administered therapeutic doses of nifedipine on the hormone balance of the mentioned systems. The authors discuss also the physiological impact of the assessed findings.