title: Plasma endothelin levels in healthy children: high values in early infancy.
abstract: We measured plasma endothelin-1-like immunoreactivity (ET-1-LI) levels in the peripheral vein of 70 healthy children (37 males and 33 females) aged 5 days to 15 years to establish the normal range in children, and compared them with those in 11 normal adults (age, mean +/- SD; 29.5 +/- 5.7 years, 6 males and 5 females). Plasma ET-1-LI levels (pg/ml, mean +/- SD) in children of each age group and adults were as follows: children younger than 1 month = 23.4 +/- 3.9 (n = 10), 1-3 months = 25.0 +/- 6.1 (n = 8), 3-6 months = 17.0 +/- 1.4 (n = 8), 6 months to 1 year = 14.0 +/- 1.7 (n = 13), 1-5 years = 13.8 +/- 2.6 (n = 11), 5-10 years = 13.6 +/- 1.6 (n = 10), 10-15 years = 12.9 +/- 2.2 (n = 10), and adults = 13.2 +/- 2.4 (n = 11). There was no significant difference in plasma ET-1-LI levels between males and females in each age group. Plasma ET-1-LI levels in children younger than 3 months were significantly (p less than 0.01) higher than those in older children or adults. After 3 months of age, plasma ET-1-LI levels were nearly constant at all ages. This is the first report to establish the normal range of plasma ET-1-LI levels in children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Kyoto University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshibayashi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishioka
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Temma
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shirakami
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imura
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mikawa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016232:Endothelins / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D016232:Endothelins