Circulating endothelin parallels arterial blood pressure during sleep in healthy subjects.
OBJECTIVE
To characterize plasma endothelin 1 (ET-1) and arterial blood pressure (ABP) time courses during the first complete non-rapid eye movement (NREM)-REM sleep cycle in healthy subjects, together with plasma renin activity (PRA) and plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP).


METHODS
Heart rate (HR), intra-arterial blood pressure and sleep electroencephalographic activity were recorded continuously during the night in eight healthy 20-28-year-old males. Blood was sampled every 10 min during their first complete sleep cycle for simultaneous measurements of plasma ET-1, PRA and ANP.


RESULTS
Circulating ET-1 demonstrated significant variations during the sleep cycle (p<0.0001) that paralleled those of ABP (p<0.05) and HR (p<0.005), with a minimum during NREM sleep and a maximum during REM sleep. ET-1 time course opposed that of PRA which increases during NREM sleep and decreases during REM sleep (p<0.0005). Plasma ANP did not demonstrate systematic variation in relation with the sleep cycle.


CONCLUSIONS
Circulating ET-1, which parallels variations of ABP, may participate in ABP regulation during sleep in healthy subjects, in association with the renin-angiotensin system.
Charloux
Anne
A
Laboratoire des Régulations Physiologiques et des Rythmes Biologiques chez l'Homme, Institut de Physiologie, 4 rue Kirschleger, 67085, Strasbourg cedex, France. Anne.Charloux@chru-strasbourg.fr
Piquard
François
F
Geny
Bernard
B
Ehrhart
Jean
J
Brandenberger
Gabrielle
G
D000328:Adult; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor / Q000097:blood; D001794:Blood Pressure; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000097:blood; D016232:Endothelins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012083:Renin / Q000097:blood; D012084:Renin-Angiotensin System; D012890:Sleep; D012895:Sleep, REM; D013997:Time Factors
D019332:Endothelin-1; D016232:Endothelins; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor; D012083:Renin