Relationship of Brain Natriuretic Peptide and Endothelin-1 to Left Ventricular Function in Patients with Heart Failure

Objective To explore the relationship of brain natriuretic peptide(BNP) and endothelin-1(ET-1) to left ventricular function in patients with heart failure caused by coronary atherosclerotic heart disease.Methods Plasma BNP levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and ET-1 levels were detected by radioimmunoassay with automatic biochemical analyzer in 50 patients with left ventricular failure caused by coronary heart disease(experimental group) and 50 healthy subjects(control group).Left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter(LVEDD) were determined by color Doppler echocardiography.Patients in experimental group were followed-up for 12-21 months to observe the occurrence of cardiovascular events and the changes in BNP and ET-1 levels.Results Compared with control group,plasma BNP and ET-1 levels and LVEDD significantly increased but LVEF obviously decreased in experimental group(P0.05).Plasma BNP levels in patients with left ventricular failure were positively correlated with ET-1 levels and LVEDD(r=0.627 and r=0.601,respectively;P0.01),but negatively correlated with LVEF(r=-0.532,P0.01).Plasma ET-1 levels were positively correlated with LVEDD levels and negatively correlated with LVEF(r=0.415 and r=-0.437,respectively;P0.05).Compared with the 19 patients with cardiovascular disease,plasma BNP levels significantly decreased in the 31 patients without cardiovascular disease(P0.05).Conclusion Plasma levels of BNP and ET-1 are obviously correlated with the severity of heart failure.Plasma BNP plays a role in the prediction of recurrent cardiovascular events.