OBJECTIVES The aim of this work was to test whether acute phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibition via sildenafil (SIL) mimics and/or potentiates cardiorenal effects of exogenous natriuretic peptide (NP) infusion. BACKGROUND Heart failure (HF) is often accompanied by elevated NP secretion yet blunted responsiveness. Such NP resistance may, in part, relate to increased cyclic guanosine monophosph...

To investigate the cellular mechanism for the synthesis and secretion of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), we examined the effects of vasoactive agents on the secretion rates and gene expression of ANP and BNP in cultured rat atrial cells. Endothelin (10(-7) M, +61%), 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA, 10(-6) M, +62%), the calcium ionophore A23187 (10...

To study synthesis, storage, and secretion of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in the heart, we have measured BNP mRNA and BNP concentrations in the hearts of Wistar-Kyoto rats and also have investigated its secretion from the isolated perfused heart. The atrium expressed the BNP gene at a high level, and a considerable amount of BNP mRNA also was present in the ventricle, which corresponded to ...

STUDY OBJECTIVES B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro BNP (NTproBNP) have been shown to correlate with pulmonary arterial wedge pressure (PAWP) in patients with heart failure. We studied whether BNP and/or NTproBNP can differentiate high- vs low-PAWP respiratory failure in ICU patients. We also evaluated if BNP and NTproBNP will reflect accurately cardiac dysfunction and predict ...

BACKGROUND This study was undertaken to identify factors correlating with plasma levels of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and its N-terminal portion (NTpro BNP) in the acute phase of Kawasaki disease (KD). METHODS This study included 91 patients with KD treated at a hospital affiliated to Hamamatsu University School of Medicine between October 2003 and June 2011. We quantified BNP and NT-pr...

BACKGROUND Plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) are promising markers for heart failure diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Insufficient data on the intraindividual biological variation (CV(i)) of BNP and NT-proBNP hamper interpretation of changes in concentration on disease progression or treatment optimization. We therefore investigated CV(i) values in st...

UNLABELLED Although recent studies show that obesity, or elevated body mass index (BMI), is associated with lower levels of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), it is unknown whether BMI affects the prognostic value of BNP in heart failure (HF). This study confirms the relationship between high BMI and low BNP in patients with advanced systolic HF. Despite relatively lower levels of BNP in overwei...

BACKGROUND B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and the N-terminal fragment of pro-BNP (NT-pro-BNP) are established biomarkers of heart failure. Increased levels of natriuretic peptide (NP) have been associated with poor outcomes in acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD); however, most studies did not address the conditions that can also increase NT-pro-BNP levels. We aimed to determine if NT-pro-BNP ...

BACKGROUND The diagnostic and prognostic values of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) testing are established. However, the range of plasma BNP levels present in the setting of chronic, stable systolic heart failure (HF) is unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS We followed up 558 consecutive ambulatory patients with chronic, stable systolic HF (left ventricular ejection fraction <50%) treated at ...

PURPOSE The study was conducted to know the significance of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) for prognosis of septic patients. METHODS The subjects were 1000 patients selected in emergency department of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital of the Capital Medical University (Beijing, China) and were classified into 3 groups as follows: systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), non-SIRS, and sepsis g...