Erschienen in:
01.09.2014 | Editorials
Beta-blockers are the old BLACK
verfasst von:
W. Scott Beattie, MD, PhD, Gregory M. T. Hare, MD, PhD
Erschienen in:
Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal canadien d'anesthésie
|
Ausgabe 9/2014
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Excerpt
Beta-blockers, as their
raison d’être, were developed with the intent to attenuate the heart’s responses to stress. Sir James Black, a Scottish pharmacologist, held the view that antagonizing the catecholamine-mediated augmenting effects on heart rate and myocardial contractility would relieve the pain of angina pectoris through a decrease in the heart’s requirement for oxygen.
1 His theories led to the discovery of propranolol (and later atenolol) and, in turn, a whole pharmacology industry dedicated to the synthesis and marketing of a variety of adrenergic antagonists that favorably altered the outcomes of numerous cardiac-related maladies.
2-
4 To this day, beta-blockers remain effective agents that reduce all measure of cardiac events.
2-
4 In 1988, Sir James was awarded the Nobel Prize for his efforts.
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