Ouabain

 Risk Factor: B
 Class: CARDIOVASCULAR DRUGS / Cardiac Drugs

Contents of this page:

Fetal Risk Summary
Breast Feeding Summary
References
Questions and Answers

Fetal Risk Summary

See Digitalis.

Breast Feeding Summary

See Digitalis.

Questions and Answers

what happens to Ca 2+ concentration inside the heart cell when ouabain is used? why do some cells burst?,

Ouabain is a cardiac glycoside used in treatment of heart failure.
It inhibits Na+-K+ pump. Na+-Ca++ antiporter uses Na+gradient across the cell membrane to transport Ca++ out of the cardiac cell after contraction is over.
Since the Na+ gradient is disrupted by ouabain, it causes retention of Ca++ inside the cell. In other words, cytosolic Ca++ concentration in cardiac cells increases when ouabain is used.

I didn't get the second part. So, I hope this partly helps.

how much of Ouabain gives the same inotropic effect of Digoxin?, Ouabain is the cardiac glycoside that is widely used in research while Digoxin is the most clinically used as an inotropic agent.The question is how much Ouabain is equivalent to Digoxin ? please guide me to the source of information.

I am a pharmacist and I am not aware of the existence of equivalency data. You would be safer to use Digoxin exclusively, it's dosage and monitoring parameters are well known.

Ouabain and the heart?, Hello everybody.

So i had a conversation with a person about how ouabain was a product used in anti-transpiration cosmetics and such, but later was substituted for aluminium because some people started having heart problems due to it.
I became curious about it, yet i could not find an answer to why this would happen.
So could anyone explain please what is ouabain and what is its effect on the heart?

Oubain is a cardiac glycoside like digoxin. It stimulates the heart and can predispose to cardiac arrhythmia. This is more likely if the person using it has underlying heart disease or kidney disease. A diseased heart is more sensitive to the effects and side effects of cardiac glycosides. Kidney disease reduces excretion and increases the blood levels for any given dose.