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Updated: Aug 20, 2026
Isolation of Atrial Myocytes from Adult Mice
Published on: July 25, 2019
B-type natriuretic peptide and its precursor in cardiac venous blood from failing hearts
Jens Peter Goetze1, Jens F Rehfeld, Regitze Videbaek
1Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. jpg@dadlnet.dk
Background:
Plasma concentrations of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP-32) and its precursor (proBNP) are increased in chronic heart failure. Accordingly, BNP-32 and proBNP are both being implemented as clinical markers.
Aim:
To determine the molar relation of BNP-32 and proBNP in different cardiovascular regions.
Methods And Results:
Blood samples were obtained from different cardiovascular regions during right heart catheterization in heart failure patients, and from normal subjects. Plasma BNP-32 and proBNP concentrations were measured using sequence-specific radioimmunoassays. Patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction (n=21) displayed increased peripheral plasma concentrations of both BNP-32 (four-fold, P=0.0008) and proBNP (seven-fold, P=0.0002) compared with normal subjects. Moreover, the peripheral concentrations were highly correlated with the corresponding concentrations in the coronary sinus (BNP-32: r=0.97, P<0.0001; proBNP: r=0.94, P<0.0001). Despite comparable peripheral concentrations of BNP-32 and proBNP, the BNP-32 concentration was higher than the proBNP concentration in the coronary sinus (median 126 pmol/l (21-993) vs. 103 pmol/l (16-691), P=0.035).
Conclusions:
The BNP-32 and proBNP concentrations are closely related in venous cardiac blood. The findings suggest an overall constitutive secretion of processed proBNP, i.e. an N-terminal precursor fragment and BNP-32, in chronic heart failure.
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