Welcome to the real-life pharmacology podcast. Today I am going to cover ACE inhibitors, really focus on

mechanism of action, side effects, things you need to monitor with ACE inhibitors, as well as kind of

give you a sense of some real-life things that actually happen in practice.

So classic examples of ACE inhibitors, lysinapril.

Remember that P-R-I-L ending that can tip you off to an ACE inhibitor.

Benazapril, Ramapril, enalapril, capypril, lots of different ACE inhibitors out there.

Their primary mechanism of action is they inhibit angiotensin converting enzyme.

And the ultimate kind of chain of events that happens from angiotensin

converting enzyme is that enzyme helps create angiotensin 2. Angiotensin 2 is a potent vasoconstrictor.

So if we block or prevent the production of angiotensin 2, we get less vasoconstriction.

So with less vasoconstriction, those are those vessels kind of tightening up.

We're going to drop blood pressure.

So ACE inhibitors classically used to help lower blood pressure in our patients with high blood pressure.

Now, side effects, cough.

If you ever have a patient that has a kind of a dry, nagging cough,

the first thing I do is look and see if they're on an ACE inhibitor.

Now, most, you know, I would definitely say, obviously, you know, most physicians, most providers that work with patients are going to know this fact.

But I have seen it overlooked simply for the fact that, you know, I've worked with patients that are on 15, 20 plus medications and it may kind of get lost in

the shuffle, maybe with other things that are going on medically.

So anyway, if you ever see a patient with kind of a dry, nagging cough that doesn't seem

to go away, doesn't seem to be related to an infection or something short term going on,

definitely look to see if they're on an ACE inhibitor.

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