Plasma concentrations of endothelin in man: arterio-venous differences and release during venous stasis

Endothelin-1 is a recently described endothelium-derived vasoconstricting peptide. Plasma concentrations of immunoreactive (IR-) endothelin were investigated in six healthy young men applying a radioimmunoassay after extraction of endothelin from plasma. In venous plasma a mean concentration of 1.3 +/- 0.4 pmol l-1 was found, whereas the mean concentration in arterial plasma was 0.9 +/- 0.4 pmol l-1 (P less than 0.005). During venous stasis for 10 min the mean plasma concentration of IR-endothelin increased about twofold, from basal 1.1 +/- 0.3 pmol l-1 to 2.1 +/- 0.3 pmol l-1 (P less than 0.01). This manoeuvre may prove helpful to investigate the control of endothelin in vivo under a variety of pathological conditions.