Zhengfeng Zhou, V. Vorperian, Q. Gong
Jun 1, 1999
Citations
5
Influential Citations
212
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Quality indicators
Journal
Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology
Abstract
Electrophysiologic Effects of Astemizole Metabolites. Introduction: The selective H1‐receptor antagonist astemizole (Hismanal) causes acquired long QT syndrome. Astemizole blocks the rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ current IKr and the human ether‐a go‐go‐related gene (HKRG) K+ channels that underlie it. Astemizole also is rapidly metabolized. The principal metabolite is desmethylastemizole, which retains H1‐receptor antagonist properties, has a long elimination time of 9 to 13 days, and its steady‐state serum concentration exceeds that of astemizole by more than 30‐fold. A second metabolite is norastemizole, which appears in serum in low concentrations following astemizole ingestion and has undergone development as a new antihistamine drug. Our objective in the present work was to study the effects of desmethylastemizole, norastemizole, and astemizole on HERG K+ channels.