Calcium Antagonism in Gastrointestinal Motility [antikvár]

M.O. Christen, T. Godfraind and R.W. McCallum Calcium Antagonism in Gastrointestinal Motility © 1989, Elsevier, Paris FOREWORD This book contains the communications presented during the symposium, Calcium Antagonism in Gastrointestinal Motility, held in Paris on February 10, 1989, under the aegis of LTM-LATEMA Laboratories and the Group Solvay-Kali-Chemie. Four hundred specialists from throughout the world attended this meeting. The importance of calcium antagonism is now widely recognized. Since their discovery, calcium antagonists have been the subject of a great number of experimental studies, mainly focusing on their cardiovascular applications. Both basic studies and analyses of several agents of this pharmacological group have opened up new perspectives in medicine. In particular, it has been sfiown that this concept may be introduced in gastroenterology, since calcium exchanges play an important role in intestinal motility. For instance, studies of the calcium antagonist pinaverium bromide, used in clinical practice to treat gastrointestinal disorders have supported this view. Therefore, it seemed useful to organize an international symposium, with the aim of bringing together, for the first time, the opinions of the various researchers and clinicians involved in this area. The symposium did in fact enable a link to be established between fundamental data and clinical applications, and confirmed the value of studying calcium antagonism phenomena from a gastrointestinal standpoint. In addition, it was possible to consider the existence of substances having a specific action directed essentially towards the gastrointestinal tract with effects that can be demonstrated from the esophagus to the colon. The results reported during the symposium are highly encouraging but should not, nevertheless, mask the actual difficulties. Much experimental work still needs to be carried out, from both a fundamental and a clinical standpoint, in order to gain better knowledge on the selectivity of calcium antagonists at the tissue level and to analyze more objectively the clinical efficacy of drugs, leading to a possible identification of subgroups of patients pardcularly sensitive to management with calcium antagonists. M.O. Christen, T. Godfraind, R.W. McCallum