Cinnarizine

General description

Cinnarizine is a piperazine derivative, which is extracted from wood reed roots. It exhibits antihistaminic and calcium antagonist property. Cinnarizine is used to treat vertigo, unsteadiness and cognitive disorders. Cinnarizine has anticholinergic, antiserotonergic and antidopaminergic effects. It enhances cerebral blood flow. Cinnarizine blocks the contraction of smooth muscles cells and also acts as a skin whitening agent.

Application

Cinnarizine has been used to block pressure-dependent changes in potassium currents in acutely isolated inner hair cells of the guinea-pig cochlea using whole-cell voltage-clamp techniques. It has also been used in the in vivo and in vitro studies, to analyze the impact of drug load and physical form of cinnarizine in self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS) on absorption in rats.

Cinnarizine has been used:

• to study its role in self-nano emulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS)(8)(10)
• to test Ca2+ signaling is pivotal for cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) retraction(9)
• as a model drug to develop a high-throughput in vitro intestinal lipolysis (HTP) model(11)

Biochem/physiol Actions

Ca²⁺ channel blocker; central and peripheral vasodilator.

Cinnarizine is a piperazine and a specific anti-vertigo agent. It is used to treat and prevent vertigo and motion sickness. In addition, cinnarizine is also used as an anti-histamine agent. Chronic use of this drug leads to side effects such as extrapyramidal reactions (Parkinson, tremor and akathisia) and depression.

Features and Benefits

This compound was developed by Johnson & Johnson. To browse the list of other pharma-developed compounds and Approved Drugs/Drug Candidates, click here.