Assessment of flosequinan's direct effect on human arterial, venous, and cardiac muscle: comparison with other classes of agents used to treat heart failure.

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We wished to provide comparative information regarding the direct effects of flosequinan, a novel quinolone under development for treating heart failure, on isolated human arterial, venous, and cardiac muscle. A similar assessment was made for four other agents--milrinone, ouabain, captopril and diltiazem--that have been used to treat heart failure patients, as well as for flosequinoxan, which is the primary metabolite of flosequinan. Flosequinan produced a potent and balanced relaxant effect on norepinephrine (NE)-contracted human arterial and venous smooth muscle, with IC25 values of 0.32 and 0.50 microM, respectively. At higher concentrations, flosequinan also produced a positive inotropic effect on human cardiac muscle (EC25 = 32 microM). A similar pattern of responses was observed with flosequinoxan. The pharmacologic profile obtained for the other agents examined differed from that observed with flosequinan and flosequinoxan in the following ways: Milrinone produced both vascular relaxant and positive inotropic effects, but at comparable concentrations; ouabain produced both vasoconstrictor and positive inotropic effects; diltiazem exerted a vascular relaxant effect at low concentrations and a negative inotropic effect at higher concentrations; and captopril had slight arterial relaxant and negative inotropic effects. These results demonstrate that the pharmacologic profile of flosequinan and flosequinoxan is unique as compared with that of other agents that have been used to treat patients with heart failure.