Recent progress in clinical application of the carbonic anhydrase inhibitor,acetazolamide

Carbonic anhydrase(CA) can catalyze hydration reaction of carbon dioxide reversibly,and produce H+ and HCO3-that take part in multi-physiologic function.The α-CA's isozymes(CA I,CA II,CA IV,CA IX and CA XII) have been much more studied.Acetazolamide,one of the important CA inhibitors,has been used clinically for a long time.It has been used for the treatment of cardiac edema and glaucoma,and has no practical value on these diseases because of its frequent side effects.Recently,researchers have found that acetazolamide has a broad spectrum of inhibiting carbonic anhydrase in many tissues and cells.It disrupts the positive hydration reaction of carbon dioxide,and has beneficial effect on biochemical metabolic disorder in various pathologic states.Therefore,a number of new clinical applications of acetazolamide have been developed.In this article,we reviewed the recent progress in clinical applications of acetazolamide,such as for treatments of acute high altitude sickness,chronic mountain sickness,cerebrovascular disease,tumor,refractory hiccough,epilepsy,metabolic bone disease,and hyperbaric oxygen-induced convulsion.