[Alterations in the level of calcitonin gene related peptide and endothelin-1 in the cirrhotic rat heart].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the role of calcitonin gene related peptide(CGRP) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) in cirrhotic cardiomyopathy (CCM).


METHODS
We measured the level of CGRP and ET-1 in the samples of rat heart collected from 15 liver cirrhosis rats and 15 controls by using radio immunoassay.


RESULTS
The data showed that the levels of CGRP (74.2130 +/- 10.3776 pg/mg protein) and ET-1 level (1.4780 +/- 0.9235 pg/mg protein) were significantly higher in the cirrhotic rat hearts than those in controls (P < 0.05). The increase of ET-1 in the cirrhotic rat hearts was closely associated with the severity of liver cirrhosis (P = 0.004); whereas no significant association was seen between the CGRP concentration and the severity of liver cirrhosis (P = 0.307).


CONCLUSIONS
We infer that the increasing of CGRP level in the cirrhotic rat heart may be a protective or antagonistic reaction to ET-1 or other pathogenic factors for cardiac dysfunction. The disturbance of the balance between CGRP and ET-1 in the liver cirrhosis rat hearts may contribute to the pathologic process of CCM.
Fu
H
H
Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital, WCUMS, Chengdu 610041, China.
Yang
L
L
Liu
X
X
Hu
H
H
Qiang
O
O
Huang
M
M
D000818:Animals; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide / Q000032:analysis*; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000378:metabolism*; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000032:analysis*; D008106:Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000737:chemistry*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D019332:Endothelin-1; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide