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Published Online
on February 4, 2008

Hypertension. 2008
Published online before print February 4, 2008, doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.107.103580
A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2008
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Submitted on October 16, 2007
Revised on November 12, 2007

A Number of Marketed Dihydropyridine Calcium Channel Blockers Have Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonist Activity

Jessica D. Dietz; Sarah Du; Charles W. Bolten; Maria A. Payne; Chunsheng Xia; James R. Blinn; John W. Funder; and Xiao Hu*

From Biological Sciences (J.D.D., S.D., C.W.B., M.A.P., C.X., X.H.), and Chemistry (J.R.B.), St. Louis Laboratories, Pfizer Global Research & Development, St. Louis, Mo; and Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research (J.W.F.), Victoria, Australia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Xiao.Hu{at}pfizer.com.

Abstract—Calcium channel blockers are widely used antihypertensives. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists are also used to treat hypertension and heart failure. We report here that a number of widely used dihydropyridine class calcium channel blockers are able to inhibit aldosterone-induced activation of mineralocorticoid receptor. These dihydropyridines varied in the extent of their effect on mineralocorticoid receptor, with nimodipine and felodipine the most potent and amlodipine the least. In contrast, both diltiazem and verapamil, nondihydropyridine calcium channel blockers, had no effect on mineralocorticoid receptor. These dihydropyridines compete with aldosterone for binding and block aldosterone-induced coactivator recruitment to mineralocorticoid receptor. The mineralocorticoid receptor S810L mutant, which is activated by steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist such as eplerenone, is inhibited by these drugs. Furthermore, nimodipine decreased aldosterone-induced expression of the mineralocorticoid receptor target gene epithelial sodium channel gamma subunit in adrenalectomized rats, demonstrating that dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers can function as mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in vivo. Molecular modeling indicates that dihydropyridines dock into the ligand binding domain of mineralocorticoid receptor in a consensus pose that partially overlaps with steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists. Together, our data suggest that, in addition to their calcium channel blocking activity, a number of dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers also have mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist activity at high doses, a finding which may thus prove useful for the design of novel antihypertensive drugs in the future.


Key words: calcium channel blockers • aldosterone • mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist • dihydropyridine