Haemodynamic effects of BM 10.188, a new orally active inotropic agent, in healthy volunteers

1 BM 10.188 (Doxaminol, Boehringer Mannheim, GmbH) is a recently developed beta-sympathomimetic agent which has shown promising positive inotropic activity in experimental animal models. It is a dibenzoxepine derivative. 2 The effects of 20 mg oral BM 10.188 on systolic time intervals and standard echocardiographic parameters have been studied in six normal healthy male volunteers. 3 When assessed by repeated measured analysis of variance, QS2 and LVET shortened significantly (P less than 0.005) in the 8 h period following BM 10.188. Mean maximum shortening values were: QS2, 25.7 +/- 25.6 (s.d.) ms at 155 min and LVET, 10.7 +/- 9.5 (s.d.) ms at 155 min. There was a corresponding small but significant increase of 4.2 +/- 3.9 (s.d.) ml in stroke volume at 6 h (P less than 0.025). 4 These results indicate that in normal volunteers, BM 10.188 exhibits effects on noninvasive cardiological indices similar to those observed after cardiac glycosides.