The cardiovascular system is regulated by hemodynamic and neurohumoral mechanisms. These regulatory systems play a key role in modulating cardiac function, vascular tone, and structure. Although neurohumoral systems are essential in vascular homeostasis, they become maladaptive in disease states such as hypertension, coronary disease, and heart failure. The clinical success of ACE inhibitors ha...

Brain natriuretic peptides are elevated in circulation in proportion to a decrease in myocardial function. They have been uniformly shown to have excellent negative predictive value in differential diagnosis of dyspnoea. They can also be used in diagnosing heart failure and have been recently shown as possible prognostic markers in acute coronary syndrome and pulmonary embolism. It is important...

Natriuretic peptides have emerged as important candidates for development of diagnostic tools and therapeutic agents in cardiovascular disease. The family contains of three major peptides-ANP, BNP, CNP-that participate in cardiovascular and cardiorenal homeostasis. Each of these natriuretic peptides binds differentially to specific receptors that signal through different mechanisms. They are cl...

We compared the role of the Raf-1/mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK)/p90(RSK) cascade in gp130-mediated cardiac hypertrophy with the contribution of the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transduction and activation of transcription (STAT) and phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase (PI3-K) pathways. Primary cul...

Brain (B-type) natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a 32 amino acid peptide that is synthesized and released predominantly from ventricular myocardium in response to myocyte stretch. Like atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), BNP seems to have almost exclusively beneficial physiological properties, including balanced vasodilation, natriuresis, and inhibition of both the sympathetic nervous system and the r...

To characterize the type of cell expressing natriuretic peptide receptors in the brain and the nature of these receptors, we conducted studies in primary cultured glial and neuronal cells derived from fetal rat diencephalon. The glial predominant cultures (95% of total cells and glial fibrillary acidic protein positive) expressed nearly a 10-fold greater specific binding of the natriuretic pept...

OBJECTIVES This paper will describe associations between plasma natriuretic peptide levels and the severity and symptoms of mitral regurgitation (MR). BACKGROUND A biochemical test that assisted grading of the severity of MR and the interpretation of symptoms would be of clinical value. METHODS Forty-nine patients with isolated MR and left ventricular (LV) ejection fractions (EFs) of >55% u...

OBJECTIVES The present study was designed to compare the secretion patterns of two cardiac hormones--A-type (atrial) and B-type (brain) natriuretic peptides--from the ventricles in patients with old myocardial infarction. BACKGROUND Plasma levels of these two natriuretic peptides are increased, and their secretion from the ventricles is augmented, in patients with congestive heart failure. ...