ATHENS, Ohio, March 9 (UPI) -- The blood-pressure drug Nebivolol shows promise in restoring cardiovascular function in blacks, says a new study.
The drug -- which is approved in Europe and has pending approval in the United States -- seems to improve damaged cardiovascular functions in African-Americans, who generally have well-functioning nitric oxide generating systems but also have more of a problem with high levels of "oxidative species."
This decreases the levels of beneficial nitric oxide while increasing the levels of oxidative stress to the point of that seen in people with heart disease, the Ohio University researchers said.
The twin problems -- low nitric-oxide levels and high oxidation stress -- lead to myriad health problems, including heart attacks, stroke and heart failure, as well as kidney failure and diabetes, the researchers said.
In fact, high oxidative stress is blamed for the high mortality rate of African-Americans between the ages of 43 and 64, a rate five to six times higher than in other ethnic groups, they said.
But Nebivolol seems to reverse this problem by acting on the level of oxidants lining the cardiovascular system to restore levels of nitric oxide and reduce oxidative stress.
"It is very rare that we see a dual positive effect of a drug in medical treatments," said Tadeusz Malinski, one of the researchers at Ohio University's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
In the study, the researchers used nanosensors 1,000 times smaller than a human hair to test levels of nitric oxide, as well as molecules involved in oxidative stress, using single cells from donors of various ethnic backgrounds.
The scientists took "before" and "after" readings in patients taking Nebivolol.
"The drug restores correct balance between good nitric oxide and damaging oxidative stress, and can in fact restore the vital function of endothelial tissue to a level similar in other ethnic groups," Malinski said.
"Previous treatments only slowed progression of the damage, while Nebivolol may actually be able to correct the problems," he said.
