Beta-Blockers - Adrenergic Receptors, Mechanism Of Action, Side Effects, Summary
related heart medications angina
Beta-blockers are medications used primarily for treating high blood pressure. The usefulness of these medications rests on their ability to block the effects of a nervous system transmitter chemical known as norepinephrine and the related "fight-or-flight" hormone epinephrine. Beta-blockers are also used to treat heart-related chest pain (angina pectoris, or simply angina), abnormalities of heart rhythm, and certain other conditions.
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Like all nervous system transmitter chemicals and many hormones, norepinephrine and epinephrine exert
their effects by interacting with proteins on the target cell's outer surface. Scientists refer to the ones on which epinephrine and norepinephrine act as adrenergic receptors, and group them into two major classes. These classes are formally known as a- and b-adrenergic receptors. H…
Beta-blockers are not general blood-pressure-lowering drugs, that is, they do not cause already normal blood pressure to go still lower. Nor do they usually affect the heartbeat of a person at rest, although they do limit the ability of exercise or emotion to make the heart beat more quickly and strongly. Indeed, exactly how beta-blockers combat elevated blood pressure remains unclear. One importa…
Beta-blockers are also probably not the best choice of treatment for people who have diabetes along with their high blood pressure or angina. In a hypoglycemic crisis (where blood sugar drops too low), the body pours out large amounts of epinephrine to stimulate release of stored sugar into the blood stream. This epinephrine also causes a rapid, pounding heartbeat that is often the diabetic'…
Beta-blockers are highly useful and relatively inexpensive medications. They remain among the most commonly used treatments for high blood pressure, although other types of medication have become more popular in recent years. Popularity of these newer medications rests almost entirely on their lower frequency of side effects: they have not been shown to treat the condition any more effectively. In…
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