Nimodipine, sold under the brand name Nimotop among others, is calcium channel blocker used in preventing

vasospasm Vasospasm refers to a condition in which an arterial spasm leads to vasoconstriction. This can lead to tissue ischemia and tissue death (necrosis). Cerebral vasospasm may arise in the context of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Symptomatic vasospasm or ...

secondary to subarachnoid hemorrhage (a form of cerebral hemorrhage). It was originally developed within the calcium channel blocker class as it was used for the treatment of high blood pressure, but is not used for this indication. It was patented in 1971 and approved for medical use in the US in 1988. It was approved for medical use in Germany in 1985.

Medical use

Because it has some selectivity for cerebral vasculature, nimodipine's main use is in the prevention of cerebral

and resultant ischemia, a complication of subarachnoid hemorrhage (a form of cerebral bleed), specifically from ruptured intracranial berry aneurysms irrespective of the patient's post-ictus neurological condition. Its administration begins within 4 days of a subarachnoid hemorrhage and is continued for three weeks. If blood pressure drops by over 5%, dosage is adjusted. There is still controversy regarding the use of intravenous nimodipine on a routine basis. A 2003 trial (Belfort ''et al.'') found nimodipine was inferior to

magnesium sulfate Magnesium sulfate or magnesium sulphate (in English-speaking countries other than the US) is a chemical compound, a salt with the formula , consisting of magnesium cations (20.19% by mass) and sulfate anions . It is a white crystalline solid, ...

in preventing seizures in women with severe preeclampsia. Nimodipine is not regularly used to treat

head injury A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inju ...

. Several investigations have been performed evaluating its use for traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage; a systematic review of 4 trials did not suggest any significant benefit to the patients that receive nimodipine therapy. There was one report case of nimodipine being successfully used for treatment of ultradian bipolar cycling after brain injury and, later,

amygdalohippocampectomy Amygdalohippocampectomy is a surgical procedure for the treatment of epilepsy. It consists of the removal of the hippocampus, which has a role in memory, spatial awareness, and navigation, and the amygdalae, which have a role in the processing and ...

Dosage

The regular dosage is 60 mg tablets every four hours. If the patient is unable to take tablets orally, it was previously given via

intravenous infusion Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutrie ...

at a rate of 1–2 mg/hour (lower dosage if the body weight is <70 kg or blood pressure is too low), but since the withdrawal of the IV preparation, administration by

nasogastric tube Nasogastric intubation is a medical process involving the insertion of a plastic tube (nasogastric tube or NG tube) through the nose, down the oesophagus, and down into the stomach. Orogastric intubation is a similar process involving the inserti ...

is an alternative.

Contraindications

Nimodipine is associated with

low blood pressure Hypotension is low blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps out blood. Blood pressure is indicated by two numbers, the systolic blood pressure (the top number) and the di ...

, flushing and sweating, edema, nausea and other gastrointestinal problems, most of which are known characteristics of calcium channel blockers. It is

contraindicated In medicine, a contraindication is a condition that serves as a reason not to take a certain medical treatment due to the harm that it would cause the patient. Contraindication is the opposite of indication, which is a reason to use a certain tre ...

unstable angina Unstable angina (UA), also called crescendo angina, is a type of angina pectoris that is irregular. It is also classified as a type of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). It can be difficult to distinguish unstable angina from non-ST elevation (non-Q ...

or an episode of

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

more recently than one month. While nimodipine was occasionally administered intravenously in the past, the FDA released an alert in January 2006, warning that it had received reports of the approved oral preparation being used intravenously, leading to severe complications; this was despite warnings on the box that this should not be done.

Side-effects

The FDA has classified the side effects into groups based on dosages levels at q4h. For the high dosage group (90 mg) less than 1% of the group experienced adverse conditions including itching, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, thrombocytopenia, neurological deterioration, vomiting,

diaphoresis Perspiration, also known as sweating, is the production of fluids secreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals. Two types of sweat glands can be found in humans: eccrine glands and apocrine glands. The eccrine sweat glands are distribu ...

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

, hyponatremia, decreasing platelet count, disseminated intravascular coagulation, deep vein

thrombosis Thrombosis (from Ancient Greek "clotting") is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel (a vein or an artery) is injured, the body uses platelets (t ...

Pharmacokinetics

Absorption

After oral administration, it reaches peak plasma concentrations within one and a half hours. Patients taking enzyme-inducing anticonvulsants have lower plasma concentrations, while patients taking sodium valproate were markedly higher.

Metabolism

Nimodipine is metabolized in the first pass metabolism. The dihydropyridine ring of the nimodipine is dehydrogenated in the hepatic cells of the liver, a process governed by

cytochrome P450 Cytochromes P450 (CYPs) are a superfamily of enzymes containing heme as a cofactor that functions as monooxygenases. In mammals, these proteins oxidize steroids, fatty acids, and xenobiotics, and are important for the clearance of various co ...

isoform 3A (

CYP3A Cytochrome P450, family 3, subfamily A, also known as CYP3A, is a human gene locus. A homologous locus is found in mice. The CYP3A locus includes all the known members of the 3A subfamily of the cytochrome P450 superfamily of genes. These genes ...

). This can be completely inhibited however, by troleandomycin (an antibiotic) or ketoconazole (an antifungal drug).

Excretion

Studies in non-human mammals using radioactive labeling have found that 40–50% of the dose is excreted via urine. The residue level in the body was never more than 1.5% in monkeys.

Mode of action

Nimodipine binds specifically to L-type voltage-gated calcium channels. There are numerous theories about its mechanism in preventing vasospasm, but none are conclusive. Nimodipine has additionally been found to act as an antagonist of the

mineralocorticoid receptor The mineralocorticoid receptor (or MR, MLR, MCR), also known as the aldosterone receptor or nuclear receptor subfamily 3, group C, member 2, (NR3C2) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''NR3C2'' gene that is located on chromosome 4q31 ...

, or as an

antimineralocorticoid An antimineralocorticoid, also known as a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA or MCRA) or aldosterone antagonist, is a diuretic drug which antagonizes the action of aldosterone at mineralocorticoid receptors. This group of drugs is ofte ...

Synthesis

The key acetoacetate (2) for the synthesis of nimodipine (5) is obtained by alkylation of sodium acetoacetate with 2-methoxyethyl chloride,

Aldol condensation An aldol condensation is a condensation reaction in organic chemistry in which two carbonyl moieties (of aldehydes or ketones) react to form a β-hydroxyaldehyde or β-hydroxyketone (an aldol reaction), and this is then followed by dehydration to ...

of ''meta''-nitrobenzene (1) and the subsequent reaction of the intermediate with enamine (4) gives nimodipine.

Stereochemistry

Nimodipine contains a stereocenter and can exist as either of two enantiomers. The pharmaceutical drug is a

racemate In chemistry, a racemic mixture, or racemate (), is one that has equal amounts of left- and right-handed enantiomers of a chiral molecule or salt. Racemic mixtures are rare in nature, but many compounds are produced industrially as racemates. ...

, an equal mixture of the (''R'')- and (''S'')- forms.Rote Liste Service GmbH (Hrsg.): ''Rote Liste 2017 – Arzneimittelverzeichnis für Deutschland (einschließlich EU-Zulassungen und bestimmter Medizinprodukte)''. Rote Liste Service GmbH, Frankfurt/Main, 2017, Aufl. 57, , S. 204.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar , Medicine Antimineralocorticoids Calcium channel blockers Dihydropyridines Carboxylate esters Ethers Nitrobenzenes Isopropyl esters