N-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide levels in pediatric patients with congestive heart failure undergoing cardiac surgery

The natriuretic peptides are believed to play an important role in the pathophysiology of congestive heart failure (CHF). We utilized a quantitative cytomorphometric method, using double immunocytochemical labeling, to assess the characteristics of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in atrial granules in an experimental model of rats with CHF induced by aortocaval fistula. Rats with CHF were further divided into decompensated (sodium-retaining) and compensated (sodium-excreting) subgroups and compared with a sham-operated control group. A total of 947 granules in myocytes in the right atrium were analyzed, using electron microscopy and a computerized analysis system. Decompensated CHF was associated with alterations in the modal nature of granule content packing, as depicted by moving bin analysis, and in the granule density of both peptides. In control rats, the mean density of gold particles attached to both peptides was 347.0 ± 103.6 and 306.3 ± 89.9 gold particles/μm2 for ANP and BNP, respectively. Similar mean density was revealed in the compensated rats (390.6 ± 81.0 and 351.3 ± 62.1 gold particles/μm2 for ANP and BNP, respectively). However, in rats with decompensated CHF, a significant decrease in the mean density of gold particles was observed (141.6 ± 67.3 and 158.0 ± 71.2 gold particles/μm2 for ANP and BNP, respectively; p < 0.05 compared with compensated rats, for both ANP and BNP). The ANP:BNP ratio did not differ between groups. These findings indicate that the development of decompensated CHF in rats with aortocaval fistula is associated with a marked decrease in the density of both peptides in atrial granules, as well as in alterations in the quantal nature of granule formation. The data further suggest that both peptides, ANP and BNP, may be regulated in the atrium by a common secretory mechanism in CHF.

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New biohumoral markers of differential diagnosis in patients with suspected heart failure

Medicinski pregled ◽

10.2298/mpns1006387m ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 63 (5-6) ◽

pp. 387-392

Author(s):

Radomir Matunovic ◽

Zdravko Mijailovic ◽

Milorad Rabrenovic ◽

Violeta Rabrenovic

Keyword(s):

Heart Failure ◽

Congestive Heart Failure ◽

Natriuretic Peptide ◽

Correct Diagnosis ◽

Clinical Manifestations ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

Renal Diseases ◽

Significant Implication ◽

Acute Patient ◽

Degree Of Certainty

Introduction. In the regular clinic practice, the assessment of the cause of dispnea is a dilemma which has a significant implication in both the estimation of prognosis and treatment of the patient. In emergency cases, when most necessary, it is often very difficult to determine whether dispnea was caused by a heart or lung disease. Role of natriuretic peptide in patients with dispnea. An acute patient with dispnea might suffer serious consequences of inadequately established diagnosis so congestive heart failure (CHF) has to be diagnosed quickly and precisely in the ER. Unfortunately, symptoms and signs of CHF are unspecific, it is sometimes impossible to obtain an adequate anamnesis and diagnosic procedures currently applied are either insufficiently precise or provide scarce information or can not always be performed under appropriate conditions. On the basis of previous findings, it has been proved that brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) can considerably contribute to the establishment of correct diagnosis as well as to the possibility of introducing an adequate therapy for those patients. However, the real value of those peptides should be estimated in relation to other clinical manifestations and indicators and the specifics of examined patients including the age, gender and the presence or absence of pulmonary or renal diseases. Natriuretic peptide in accessement gradient of heart failure. Determination of natriuretic peptide has represented most probably the greatest progress in diagnosing the heart failure since the introduction of echocardiography into practice. Its high sensitivity and negative predicted value makes it a valid test for excluding congestive heart failure with a very high degree of certainty.

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