[Cardio-metabolic properties of manidipine: beyond lowering arterial pressure?]

From its introduction in the decade of the 70's the evolution of the calcium channel blockers has allowed to resolve the uncertainty initially generated by those first generation drugs. These, are characterized by a smaller oral availability, a fast vasodilator action and a short duration of action. Manidipine arises as a dihydropyridine calcium antagonist of third generation with real additional advantages regarding to previous generations. They show high lipophilia, a more prolonged action and as well as a prolonged average life at the level of his receptor and, in addition, some theoretical advantages among others calcium antagonists, improvements on the renal function by reducing the intraglomerular pressure and microalbuminuria. Nevertheless, the clinical evaluation of these last properties still depends on the results derived from clinical trials. Besides to go deep in its role in their antihypertensive effect, we presented a brief review on new cardiometabolic aspects of these dihydropyridines calcium antagonists focusing in manidipine.