alpha blocker

American  

Or alpha-blocker

noun

Pharmacology.

1. any of various substances that interfere with the action of the alpha receptors.

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alpha-blocker British  

noun

1. any of a class of drugs that prevent the stimulation of alpha adrenoceptors, a type of receptor in the sympathetic nervous system, by adrenaline and noradrenaline and that therefore cause widening of blood vessels: used in the treatment of high blood pressure and prostatic hyperplasia

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Other Word Forms

• alpha-blocking adjective

Example Sentences

Researchers at Johns Hopkins’s Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, for example, recently reported preliminary findings that suggest another blood pressure drug, Prazosin, an alpha blocker that relaxes blood vessels, targets what is known as cytokine storm, a syndrome that involves an extreme inflammatory response that afflicts older covid-19 patients with underlying health conditions.

From Washington Post

Researchers at Johns Hopkins’s Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, for example, recently reported preliminary findings that suggest another blood pressure drug, Prazosin, an alpha blocker that relaxes blood vessels, targets what is known as cytokine storm, a syndrome that involves an extreme inflammatory response that afflicts older COVID-19 patients with underlying health conditions.

From Seattle Times

If you're one of the 1 million Americans who take an alpha blocker, ask your doctor about switching.

From Time Magazine Archive