Lacidipine: a dihydropyridine calcium antagonist with antioxidant activity

Lacidipine, a new, long-acting antihypertensive dihydropyridine calcium antagonist was tested for potential antioxidant effect in a series of tests that consider specific radical species. A direct quenching of several radical species could be measured. Moreover, in biological membranes deriving from rat brain tissue, lacidipine showed an activity comparable to reference antioxidant compounds like vitamin E.