Plasma levels of N-terminal peptide of pro-atrial natriuretic peptides in myoskeletal injuries

To determine whether concentrations of the N-terminal peptide of pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (proANP) and of alpha atrial natriuretic peptide 1-28 (aANP) releases are affected by myoskeletal injuries, samples from 24 patie nts with muscle injuries were therefore collected within 48 h of injury. Th e mean age of patients was 65; range: 17-90 years. These were compared with 18 non-injured subjects with a mean age of 40; range: 17-80 years. A speci fic enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method suitable for the determination of proAN P and aANP was used. aANP required plasma extraction and no extraction was needed for proANP determination. ProANP level was significantly higher in patients on admission and this lev el was maintained 24 h after admission (p < 0.05) compared to controls. How ever, aANP 1-28 level remained statistically unchanged in the patients samp les. The level of proANP was over 10 times greater than the levels obtained with aANP. N-terminal peptide of proANP may be a supplementary tool in the study of early phase of myoskeletal injuries in human. (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience B.V. All rights reserved.