title: Plasma Levels of Acylated Ghrelin in Children with Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Congenital Heart Disease.
abstract: This study aims to estimate plasma levels of acylated ghrelin in children with pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with congenital heart disease (CHD) and to correlate the levels of acylated ghrelin with endothelin-1 (ET-1), nitric oxide (NO), and clinical hemodynamic parameters. We investigated the plasma concentration of acylated ghrelin, ET-1, NO, and the hemodynamic parameters in 20 children with CHD, 20 children with PH-CHD, and 20 normal children. Plasma-acylated ghrelin and NO levels were significantly higher in CHD group than in control subjects (P < 0.001). Moreover, plasma-acylated ghrelin, ET-1, and NO levels were significantly elevated in PH-CHD group compared with the CHD group (P < 0.05). In PH-CHD children, plasma-acylated ghrelin levels correlated positively with pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP; r = 0.740, P < 0.001), pulmonary artery diastolic pressure (PADP; r = 0.613, P = 0.004), right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP; r = 0.642, P = 0.002), mean pulmonary arterial hypertension (mPAP; r = 0.685, P = 0.001), right ventricle diameter (RVD; r = 0.473, P = 0.035), pulmonary artery trunk diameter (PAD; r = 0.613, P = 0.004), NO (r = 0.463, P = 0.04), and ET-1 (r = 0.524, P = 0.018). Plasma-acylated ghrelin levels were elevated both in CHD and in PH-CHD. Increased acylated ghrelin levels correlated positively with ET-1, NO, PASP, PADP, RVSP, mPAP, RVD, and PAD. Acylated ghrelin may be a new biomarker of PH-CHD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Drug and Functional Foods of Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Jiyi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Yuqin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Changxue
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China. lblyfy@126.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004452:Echocardiography; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D054439:Ghrelin / Q000097:blood*; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000097:blood*; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019332:Endothelin-1; D054439:Ghrelin; D009569:Nitric Oxide
keywords: Acylated ghrelin; Congenital heart disease; Endothelin-1; Nitric oxide; Pulmonary hypertension