T is for Telmisartan 💊 Traditional Cache

#20  Drug Alphabet Series

This series combines two of my favourite "hobbies" - drugs and geocaching. It will inform you about some drugs ie. medicines that you may come across in your lifetime, treating a wide range of medical conditions; and also take you to some interesting places on the Sunshine Coast that you may not have been to before.

Telmisartan (C₃₃H₃₀N₄O₂) is used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart failure in patients unable to tolerate other anti-hypertensives.. It is an angiotensin II antagonist (or sartan) which competitively blocks binding of angiotension II to the type 1 angiotensin receptor, therefore modulating the renin-angiotensin system. It reduces angiotensin-induced vasoconstriction, sodium reabsorption and aldosterone release. Telmisartan is one of 7 “sartans” available in Australia and it has the longest half-life at 24 hours. Common (>1%) side effects include: dizziness, headache and hyperkalaemia.  In 1898, physiologist Robert Tigerstedt experimented by injecting rabbits with kidney extracts and found that the kidneys produced a protein, which they named renin, that was implicated in a rise in blood pressure. In the 1930s, it was discovered that renin was an enzyme that catalysed the formation of substances that increased blood pressure, namely, angiotensin I and II. Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors were introduced in the 1970s and then structural modifications were made which led to the development of the Angiotensin II antagonists in the 1990s which have an improved side effect profile.

The cache is a shiny nano hidden beside a quiet country road. There should be enough room to park near the bus stop.