title: Limitations of compensation by endogenous atrial natriuretic peptide in heart failure.
abstract: To evaluate the role of endogenous atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), the relationship between plasma ANP and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels and the prognosis of patients with CHF was examined. In patients with chronic mild to moderate CHF, there was a positive correlation between plasma ANP and cGMP levels (r = 0.81, p less than 0.001). However, there was no significant correlation between these plasma levels in patients with chronic severe CHF, in whom the cGMP concentration reached a plateau in spite of high levels of ANP. The ANP extraction level and the cGMP production level in the pulmonary and systemic circulation correlated significantly in patients with mild CHF. In contrast, there was no significant correlation between the 2 parameters in patients with severe CHF, and the molar ratios of cGMP production to ANP extraction in the pulmonary and systemic circulation were significantly lower than those in patients with mild CHF. In 44 patients with chronic severe CHF who were followed up over 2 years, plasma ANP levels provided more sensitive and specific prognostic information than any other parameters. These results indicate that ANP receptors coupled to guanylate cyclase may be down-regulated in patients with chronic severe CHF, suggesting that high plasma ANP levels as a prognostic predictor may be associated with limitations of compensation by endogenous ANP.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsutamoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanamori
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyauchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
mesh_terms: D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006152:Cyclic GMP / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D011651:Pulmonary Artery; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015290:Second Messenger Systems; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor; D006152:Cyclic GMP