Antihypertensives
Armando Hasudungan
The heart pumps a certain amount of blood each time it contracts and this is the
cardiac output, expressed as:
Cardiac Output = Stroke Volume x Heart Rate
This allows blood to flow through the arteries and deliver oxygenated blood to
tissues before returning back to the heart via the veins. Other organs responsible
for or plays a role in regulating blood pressure include:
The liver
The lungs
The kidneys
The endocrine organ above the kidneys called the adrenal glands
ACE inhibitors, or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, are a very common
antihypertensive medication. These medications can be remembered by the ending
"-pril". The mechanism of action of ACE inhibitors is that they inhibit ACE, the
enzyme-bound membrane-bound enzyme.
Some reasons why a person cannot take ACE inhibitors include:
Being pregnant
Having bad asthma
Chronic cough
Being allergic to ACE inhibitors
Having a kidney disease, particularly renal stenosis
Beta blockers block what are called beta receptors. These receptors play an
important role in sympathetic activity. By blocking the beta receptors, you are
blocking sympathetic activity essentially. Beta receptors are located everywhere in
the body, but we will mainly concentrate on the heart here.
Beta blockers can be selective or nonselective:
Selective beta blockers work specifically on the heart
Nonselective beta blockers work on the periphery, such as the blood vessels
Calcium channels facilitate the movement of calcium in and out of cells or cellular
organelles. Two main types exist in the body.
Armando Hasudungan
The heart pumps a certain amount of blood each time it contracts and this is the
cardiac output, expressed as:
Cardiac Output = Stroke Volume x Heart Rate
This allows blood to flow through the arteries and deliver oxygenated blood to
tissues before returning back to the heart via the veins. Other organs responsible
for or plays a role in regulating blood pressure include:
The liver
The lungs
The kidneys
The endocrine organ above the kidneys called the adrenal glands
ACE inhibitors, or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, are a very common
antihypertensive medication. These medications can be remembered by the ending
"-pril". The mechanism of action of ACE inhibitors is that they inhibit ACE, the
enzyme-bound membrane-bound enzyme.
Some reasons why a person cannot take ACE inhibitors include:
Being pregnant
Having bad asthma
Chronic cough
Being allergic to ACE inhibitors
Having a kidney disease, particularly renal stenosis
Beta blockers block what are called beta receptors. These receptors play an
important role in sympathetic activity. By blocking the beta receptors, you are
blocking sympathetic activity essentially. Beta receptors are located everywhere in
the body, but we will mainly concentrate on the heart here.
Beta blockers can be selective or nonselective:
Selective beta blockers work specifically on the heart
Nonselective beta blockers work on the periphery, such as the blood vessels
Calcium channels facilitate the movement of calcium in and out of cells or cellular
organelles. Two main types exist in the body.
