ABSTRACT

Amlodipine is a long-acting calcium channel bloáker used s an anti-hypertensive and in the treatment of angina. As other calcium channel blockers, amlodipine acts by relaxing the smooth muscle in the arterial wall, decreasing peripheral resistance and hence improving blood pressure. Several studies have reported the hepatoprotective effects Gf amlodipine. Such studies suggest that amlodipine exact no toxic effect on liver and kithey. The present study is aimed at evaluating the effect of amlodipine on biochemical parameters. 'the study was performed using blood samples obtained from 50 different individuals. The individuals vas grouped into 2, group A (control group) consisted of blood sampled from 15 healthy individuals while group B (amlodipine group) consist of 35 patients receiving amlodipine. as antihypertensive drug. The. patients in group B were grouped according to sex, aged between (30-80), and duration of treatment (3-6months). Parameters such as urea, creatinine, bilirubin, Alanine: Transaminase (ALT), Aspartate Transaminase (AST) AND Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were determined using the RANDOX kit following the method of Reitman and Franked, (1975) for liver function parameters and Henry, (1974) for kidney function parameters. The result obtained showed that urea, creatinine and bilirubin showed a no significant increase when compared to matched control whereas Alanine Transamiriase (ALT), Aspartate Transaminase (AST) and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) showed slight decrease when compared to patients who are not on amlodipine. These results support the claims that the use of amlodipine as anti-hypertensive drug has little or no hepatotoxic and renal effect. This knowledge may be useful in the administration of amlodipine as an anti-hypertensive therapy.