Calcium, vascular smooth muscle, and calcium entry blockers in hypertension.

Increases in vascular tone induced by an increase in cytosol calcium concentration may be important in the development of hypertension, myocardial ischemia, and other cardiovascular disorders. A heterogeneous group of compounds known as calcium entry blockers inhibit smooth muscle contraction induced by physiologic and pharmacologic stimuli by blocking transmembrane transport of calcium through membrane channels. These drugs may reduce blood pressure through effects on the heart, the venous capacitance vessels, the arterial resistance vessels, and the renin-angiotensin system. Although their efficacy in antihypertensive therapy may eventually prove to be nonspecific, their ability to interfere with a basic cellular mechanism for vasoconstriction makes these drugs attractive as potential specific treatment for the abnormal vasomotion in patients with hypertension.