title: Plasma pancreastatin-like immunoreactivity correlates with plasma norepinephrine levels in essential hypertension.
abstract: Pancreastatin (PST), a 49 amino acid peptide originally isolated from porcine pancreas, is derived from chromogranin A (Cg A), an acidic protein co-released with catecholamines from sympathetic nerve terminals and chromaffin cells. Extracellular processing of Cg A yields PST as well as other biological active peptides. Measurement of Cg A and PST-like immunoreactivity (PST-LI) has been used to investigate patients with pheochromocytoma and other neuroendocrine neoplasia. Some studies have found increased plasma norepinephrine (NE) levels in essential hypertension. We therefore measured venous plasma PST-LI and catecholamines in patients with essential hypertension. We employed a radioimmunoassay developed with commercially available reagents for measuring plasma PST-like immunoreactivity, and HPLC with electrochemical detection for measurement of plasma catecholamines. The correlation of PST-LI with epinephrine (E) was very weak. However, its correlation with NE was highly significant. Thus, venous plasma PST-LI immunoreactivity may reflect sympathetic nerve activity in essential hypertension.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D053379:Chromogranin A; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000097:blood*; D010187:Pancreatic Hormones / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D051381:Rats; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D053379:Chromogranin A; D010187:Pancreatic Hormones; C050836:pancreastatin; D009638:Norepinephrine; D004837:Epinephrine