Abstract
Hypertension, congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias are very common cardiovascular diseases; e.g., the prevalence of hypertension has been estimated as approximately 10% of the adult population of industrial countries. The discovery and development of new antihypertensive drugs is justified by the fact that most of the available drugs act predominantly to reduce blood pressure alone and have only minimal effects on the risk factors associated with hypertension. The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors were the first antihypertensive drugs to exhibit additional beneficial effects, such as a reduction in cardiac hypertrophy. Ligands selective for cerebral imidazoline-specific receptors are known to inhibit sympathetic activity and to restore sympatho-vagal balance. Rilmenidine and, more recently, moxonidine (representatives of the so-called second generation of centrally-acting cardiovascular drugs) were the first centrally-acting, imidazoline receptor-specific antihypertensive agents t...
Published Version
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