quinidine, drug used in the treatment of abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia) and malaria. Obtained from the bark of the Cinchona tree, quinidine shares many of the pharmacological actions of quinine; i.e., both have antimalarial and fever-reducing activity. The main use of quinidine, however, involves its activity as a myocardial depressant—that is, it depresses the excitability and conduction velocity of nerve impulses and the contractility of the heart muscle. The drug also tends to lower blood pressure. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and skin rash are common reactions to the use of quinidine.