The effects of a dihydropyridine calcium channel antagonist, nitrendipine 20 mg orally, have been investigated in 24 women in the first trimester human pregnancy in a double-blind, placebo controlled study. The effects on systemic arterial pressure, pulse rate (PR), blood loss at termination of pregnancy (TOP), plasma renin, renin substrate and aldosterone concentrations and platelet aggregation to adenosine diphosphate 0.5 microM, adrenaline bitartrate 0.1-1.0 microM, thrombin 0.05 u ml-1 and sodium arachidonate 0.1-0.2 mM were studied. Administration of nitrendipine was associated with a statistically-significant fall in diastolic pressure (BPD) the magnitude of which was directly related to the individual peak concentrations of the drug (P less than 0.02). No significant effects were observed on systolic pressure (BPS);PR rose slightly. Baseline variability of all three parameters fell in the nitrendipine-treated group over the first 2 h but then increased significantly (BPS, P less than 0.05; BPD, P less than 0.025; PR, P less than 0.005). There was a positive association in both placebo and treated groups between the rates of change of BPD and PR (P less than 0.005 for both); nitrendipine exerted a highly significant (P less than 0.001) effect on this association compatible with its effect as a vasodilator. Blood loss consequent on TOP did not differ in the two groups (nitrendipine 104 +/- 16 ml; placebo 114 +/- 20 ml). There were no significant differences in basal or stimulated hormone concentrations in the two groups. The ex vivo platelet aggregatory response in whole blood to 0.1 mM sodium arachidonate was inhibited by nitrendipine (P less than 0.05); responsiveness to the other aggregatory agents studied was not changed. There was a wide individual variation in both time to peak concentration of nitrendipine and the size of the peak, making classical pharmacokinetic analysis impossible. The median time after ingestion to peak concentration was 105 min; the median concentration was 7.8 ng ml-1. These data suggest that, in the context of the severe vasoconstriction and platelet aggregability of pregnancy-induced hypertension, further studies of this drug in pregnancy are warranted.