This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 677, and undergraduate course at UW-Madison.
Bepridil
In today's age of medicine doctors, pharmacists, and researchers everywhere are always looking for the next big drug that will change the way people live. One of the few things that a person can do with Long QT Syndrome is to take anti-arrhythmia agents. These agents are used for the treatment or prevention of cardiac arrhythmias. They work by affecting the polarization-repolarization phase of the action potential, its excitability or refractoriness, or impulse conduction or membrane responsiveness within cardiac fibers. All of these tasks are critical in helping someone with LQTS maintain as much normal QT phase as possible. The Anit-Arrhythmia Agents can be categorized into different groups that effect different parts of the system from sodium and calcium channel blocking, to beta-adrenergic blocking, to repolarization prolongation. Bepridil falls under the calcium channel blockage category and can help keep the heart’s beating in check. While this is just one example of a drug to subdue the symptoms of LQTS there are many more out there now that work in just about the same way. [1]