Natriuretic peptides and nitric oxide play important roles in cardiovascular and renal physiology and disease. The natriuretic peptides - atrial natriuretic peptide, brain natriuretic peptide, and C-type natriuretic peptide - comprise a family of proteins that participate in the integrated control of intravascular volume and arterial blood pressure. The natriuretic peptides differentially bind ...

BACKGROUND Cystatin C (Cys C) has been implicated as a prognostic marker in cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of Cys C as a marker of acute kidney injury (AKI) in acute heart failure (AHF), the impact of Cys C and N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptides (NT-proBNP) on in-hospital and 12 months mortality were also investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS A tot...

Apoptosis is a mode of cell death in which the cell participates in its own demise. We studied whether endothelium-derived relaxing factor, nitric oxide (NO), and natriuretic peptides affect apoptosis of rat vascular endothelial cells via a cGMP-dependent pathway and whether such effects are antagonized by an endothelium-derived vasoconstrictor, endothelin-1 (ET-1). Three natriuretic peptides (...

BACKGROUND After synthesis by cardiomyocytes, precursor proBNP1-108 is cleaved into NT-proBNP and BNP. Recently, cross-reactivity between these assays was discussed. The aim of this study was to characterize the cross-reactivities, through a new biochemical innovative approach consisting in the total depletion of the circulating proBNP1-108 in patients with heart failure (HF). METHODS This pr...

OBJECTIVES Rescreen a large community cohort to examine the progression to heart failure over time and the role of natriuretic peptide testing in screening. DESIGN Observational longitudinal cohort study. SETTING 16 socioeconomically diverse practices in central England. PARTICIPANTS Participants from the original Echocardiographic Heart of England Screening (ECHOES) study were invited to...

Experimental data suggest that atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) act locally as antifibrotic factors in heart. We investigated the interrelationships of natriuretic peptides and collagen markers in 93 patients receiving thrombolytic treatment for their first acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Collagen formation following AMI, evaluated as serum levels of amin...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether testosterone administration alters natriuretic peptide levels in women. DESIGN Three-month, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. SETTING Clinical research center. PATIENT(S) Fifty-one women with hypoandrogenemia due to hypopituitarism. INTERVENTION(S) Transdermal testosterone (300 μg daily) or placebo patch. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) N-Ter...

N-terminal pro β-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a valuable marker for monitoring the response to treatment in patients with heart failure. Based on the clinically observed improvement of heart failure symptoms early after cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), we sought to investigate whether CRT induce any significant reduction in the plasma level of NT-proBNP in three days after im...

Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) has an established role in cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, recent animal studies suggest direct metabolic effects of BNP. To determine the association of BNP with the risk of diabetes, we conducted a prospective analysis of participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. We included 7,822 men and women without history of diabetes, C...