The natriuretic peptides. Clinical applications in patients with COPD.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J R Klinger.
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A relative cardiac hypertrophy has been observed in newborns chronically treated with dexamethasone. To test the hypothesis--that dexamethasone might alter steroid metabolism within the heart--rat pups were injected with vehicle, corticosterone (dosages 20 or 200 micrograms/pup/injection, or 1 mg/pup/injection) or dexamethasone (5 micrograms/pup/injection) on Day 2-6 and sacrificed on Day 7-8. Injections with dexamethasone in this dosage have induced the cardiac changes in this rat model. 11 beta-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11 beta-OHSD) activity was assessed in hearts from these adrenally intact rat pups by incubating tissues with 3H-corticosterone 10(-8) M for 60 min. On Day 7-8, controls transformed 10.3% +/- 1.1% (mean +/- SE) of the corticosterone (Compound B) to 11-dehydrocorticosterone (Compound A) generating 1.25 +/- 0.35 x 10(-12) moles A/mg protein (n = 8). Tissues from pups pretreated with corticosterone at all three dosages were not different from controls in percent metabolized and moles A/mg generated. In contrast, hearts from dexamethasone treated pups transformed only 4.5% +/- 1.0% of the corticosterone to A generating 3.19 +/- 0.05 x 10(-13) moles A/mg protein (n = 10) (P < 0.05 versus control in moles/mg protein metabolized). Cultured cardiomyocytes exposed to dexamethasone for 4 days in vitro also decreased their expression of 11 beta-OHSD mRNA. Readily metabolized endogenous glucocorticoids produced little or no effect on developing heart muscle while treatment with dexamethasone, a potent synthetic glucocorticoid, induced relative cardiac hypertrophy and downregulated 11 beta-OHSD mRNA expression and enzyme activity.
To test the hypothesis that brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) plays a role similar to that of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in modulating pulmonary vascular responses to hypoxia, we measured the vasodilator potency of ANP and BNP in rat pulmonary artery (PA) and thoracic aorta (TA) rings and in isolated rat lungs. We also measured the effect of chronic hypoxia on plasma levels and cardiac gene expression of both peptides. BNP had a vasorelaxant effect equipotent to that of ANP on preconstricted TA and PA rings, but was less potent than ANP in relaxing the vasoconstrictor response to hypoxia in isolated lungs [mean 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) 10(-7) vs. 10(-6) M for ANP and BNP, respectively]. Plasma BNP levels were 30-fold lower than ANP, but both peptides increased approximately 70% during chronic hypoxia. In the right atrium, hypoxia lowered BNP mRNA slightly, but had no effect on ANP mRNA or tissue levels of either peptide. However, hypoxia increased right ventricular content and mRNA levels of both peptides by three- to fourfold. We conclude that BNP and ANP have similar pulmonary vasodilator effects and are upregulated proportionally during chronic hypoxia. These results support a role for BNP in modulating the pulmonary hypertensive response to chronic hypoxia.
We hypothesized that a downregulation in pulmonary atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) receptors helps raise plasma ANP levels during chronic hypoxia. We measured in vivo pulmonary uptake and plasma clearance of 125I-ANP and in vitro pulmonary binding kinetics of 125I-ANP in normoxic and chronically hypoxic rats. Exposure to 21 days of hypobaric (0.5 atm) hypoxia did not decrease specific binding of 125I-ANP in the kidney, but pulmonary binding decreased 35 and 75% after 1 and 3 days of hypoxia, respectively, and increased 200% after 3 days of normoxic recovery from 21 days of hypoxia. The total binding capacity for ANP to lung membrane fractions from normoxic rats, chronically hypoxic rats, and rats that had recovered from hypoxia was 488 +/- 59, 109 +/- 17, and 338 +/- 48 fmol/mg, respectively (P < 0.05 for hypoxic vs. normoxic or recovered lung membranes). The area under the 125I-ANP plasma concentration curve for normoxic and hypoxic rats and normoxic rats that were infused with the ANP C-receptor ligand C-ANF-(4-23) was 3,292 +/- 216, 5,022 +/- 466, and 8,205 +/- 1,059 disintegrations.min-1.ml-1, respectively [P < 0.05 for hypoxic vs. normoxic or C-ANF-(4-23)-infused rats]. We conclude that pulmonary ANP clearance is reduced during chronic hypoxia secondary to a downregulation in pulmonary ANP clearance receptors. Reduced pulmonary clearance of ANP may represent an adaptation that contributes to increased plasma ANP levels during chronic hypoxia.
Elevated plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) levels have been shown to blunt pulmonary hemodynamic responses to chronic hypoxia, but whether elevated circulating ANP levels negatively feedback on cardiac expression of the ANP gene is unknown. Using a recently developed strain of transgenic mouse (TTR-ANF) that expresses a transthyretin promoter-ANP fusion gene in the liver, we studied the effect of chronically elevated plasma ANP levels on cardiac hypertrophic and pulmonary hemodynamic responses and expression of the endogenous cardiac ANP gene during chronic hypoxia. Plasma ANP levels were 10-fold higher in TTR-ANF mice than in their non-transgenic littermates. After 3 wk of hypobaric hypoxia (0.5 atm), right ventricular hypertrophy and pulmonary hypertension had developed in both groups of mice, but TTR-ANF mice had lower right ventricle-to-left ventricle plus septum weight ratios (0.39 +/- 0.01 vs. 0.45 +/- 0.02), right ventricular systolic pressures (25 +/- 2 vs. 29 +/- 2 mmHg), and lung dry weight-to-body weight ratios (0.48 +/- 0.03 vs. 0.57 +/- 0.01 mg/g) and less muscularization of peripheral pulmonary vessels (8.3 +/- 1.4 vs. 17.4 +/- 2.5%) than nontransgenic controls. Right atrial and ventricular steady-state ANP mRNA levels were the same in both groups of mice under normoxic and hypoxic conditions despite much higher plasma ANP levels and less pulmonary hypertension in TTR-ANF mice. We conclude that chronically elevated plasma ANP levels attenuate the development of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in mice but do not suppress cardiac expression of the endogenous ANP gene under normoxic conditions nor blunt the upregulation of right ventricular ANP expression during chronic hypoxia.
Neutral endopeptidase (NEP) inhibition is thought to blunt hypoxic pulmonary hypertension by reducing atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) metabolism, but this hypothesis has not been confirmed. We measured NEP activity, guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) production, plasma ANP levels, and cardiac ANP synthesis in rats given an orally active NEP inhibitor (SCH-34826) during 3 wk of hypoxia. Under normoxic conditions, SCH-34826 had no effect on plasma ANP levels but reduced pulmonary and renal NEP activity by 50% and increased urinary cGMP levels (60 +/- 6 vs. 22 +/- 4 pg/mg creatinine; P < 0.05). Under hypoxic conditions, SCH-34826-treated rats had lower plasma ANP levels (1,259 +/- 361 vs. 2,101 +/- 278 pg/ml; P < 0.05), lower right ventricular systolic pressure (53 +/- 5 vs. 73 +/- 2 mmHg; P < 0.05), lower right ventricle weight-to-left ventricle+septum weight ratio (0.47 +/- 0.04 vs. 0.53 +/- 0.03; P < 0.05), and less muscularization and percent medial wall thickness of peripheral pulmonary arteries (22 +/- 5 vs. 45 +/- 8% and 17 +/- 1 vs. 25 +/- 1%, respectively; P < 0.05 for all values) than did rats treated with vehicle alone. These values were not affected by SCH-34826 under normoxic conditions. SCH-34826 decreased right ventricular ANP tissue levels in hypoxic rats (27 +/- 10 vs. 8 +/- 1 ng/mg protein; P < 0.05) but did not affect steady-state ANP mRNA levels. We conclude that NEP inhibition blunts pulmonary hypertension without increasing plasma ANP levels.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A 27-year-old woman presented with cough, fever, and pulmonary infiltrates after heavy cocaine smoking. Large amounts of carbonaceous material and pigment-laden macrophages were recovered by bronchoalveolar lavage. Alveolar deposition of particulate matter from heavy cocaine smoking has not been previously reported and may have been the cause of this patient's symptoms and abnormal findings on chest radiograph.
Pulmonary clearance of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) was measured by indicator dilution technique in isolated perfused rat lungs with and without ANP clearance receptor (C-receptor) blockade. Approximately 50% of a bolus injection of 125I-ANP was removed during a single pass through the lungs compared with the intravascular marker 14C-dextran. Pulmonary clearance of 125I-ANP was suppressed in a dose-dependent fashion by unlabeled ANP. C-receptor blockade suppressed pulmonary clearance of 125I-ANP to the same degree as unlabeled ANP. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis of the pulmonary venous effluent from lungs treated with C-receptor ligand demonstrated intact 125I-ANP. We conclude that virtually all of the pulmonary vascular uptake of 125I-ANP during a single pass through isolated lungs is secondary to removal by ANP C-receptors.
Cor pulmonale is an important consequence of COPD. Although the incidence is not precisely known, it is seen more frequently in patients with hypoxemia, CO2 retention and severely reduced FEV1. When present, it limits peripheral oxygen delivery, increases shortness of breath, and reduces exercise endurance. It is also associated with higher mortality rates independent of other prognostic variables. Numerous factors may contribute to the development of cor pulmonale in patients with COPD, but its primary cause is chronic alveolar hypoxia resulting in pulmonary vasoconstriction, vascular remodeling and pulmonary hypertension. The physical exam, chest radiograph and ECG may be helpful in detecting the presence of cor pulmonale, but because of anatomic changes that occur in the chest, these tests are often insensitive in patients with COPD. Noninvasive diagnostic techniques utilizing Doppler echocardiography and radionuclide angiography allow for detection of RV dysfunction at an earlier stage and in most cases, preclude the need for right heart catheterization. LTO2 is the only therapy shown to improve survival in patients with COPD. However, statistical proof correlating improvements in pulmonary hemodynamics with increased survival is lacking. Bronchodilators, such as the beta 2 agonists and especially theophylline, may have beneficial effects on pulmonary hemodynamics in addition to their effect on respiratory function and are useful in COPD when RV dysfunction is present. Diuretics and phlebotomy are also useful in improving symptoms in appropriate patients. Vasodilators such as calcium channel blockers and ACE-inhibitors may improve pulmonary hemodynamics acutely, but may lower arterial PO2 by worsening ventilation-perfusion matching or blunt the improvement in pulmonary hemodynamics seen with supplemental oxygen. The long-term benefits of these agents have not been proven and their routine use in patients with cor pulmonale due to COPD cannot be recommended.
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