Vascular protection from atherosclerosis: potential of calcium antagonists.

Atherosclerosis is the result of complex, interrelated processes, many of which involve calcium. Interventions that interfere with calcium uptake by cells retard lesion development in experimental models of atherosclerosis, underscoring calcium's critical role in atherogenesis. A wide variety of calcium antagonists, including nifedipine, verapamil and diltiazem, have been shown to protect against atherosclerosis in animal models. While these drugs are quite different from each other pharmacologically, they all block intracellular calcium influx. This common property is thus the proposed mechanism for their antiatherosclerotic effects. The effectiveness of the calcium antagonists against the development of atherosclerosis in experimental models may be relevant in the selection of antihypertensive therapy--provided that their protective effects can be demonstrated in future clinical trials as well.