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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
5
pubmed:dateCreated
2009-10-22
pubmed:abstractText
Obesity is associated with endothelial dysfunction related to decreased NO bioavailability, increased endothelin 1 vasoconstrictor activity, and decreased circulating ghrelin. Therefore, we tested whether exogenous ghrelin may have benefits to improve the balance between endothelin 1 and NO in patients with obesity-related metabolic syndrome. Vasoactive actions of endothelin 1 and NO were assessed in 8 patients with metabolic syndrome and 8 matched controls by evaluating forearm blood flow responses (strain-gauge plethysmography) to intra-arterial infusion of BQ-123 (endothelin A receptor antagonist; 10 nmol/min), followed by NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (NO synthase inhibitor; 4 micromol/min), before and after infusion of ghrelin (200 ng/min). In the absence of ghrelin, the vasodilator response to BQ-123 was greater in patients than in controls (P<0.001), whereas infusion of NG-monomethyl-L-arginine induced smaller vasoconstriction in patients than in controls (P=0.006). Importantly, exogenous ghrelin decreased the vasodilator response to BQ-123 (P=0.007 versus saline) and enhanced the magnitude of changes in forearm blood flow induced by NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (P=0.003) in patients but not in controls (both P>0.05). The favorable effect of ghrelin on endothelin A-dependent vasoconstriction was likely related to the stimulation of NO production, because no change in the vascular effect of BQ-123 was observed after ghrelin (P=0.44) in 5 patients with metabolic syndrome during continuous infusion of the NO donor sodium nitroprusside (0.2 microg/min). In patients with metabolic syndrome, ghrelin has benefits to normalize the balance between vasoconstrictor (endothelin 1) and vasodilating (NO) mediators, thus suggesting that this peptide has important peripheral actions to preserve vascular homeostasis in humans.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Nov
pubmed:issn
1524-4563
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:volume
54
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
995-1000
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Adult, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Analysis of Variance, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Blood Flow Velocity, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Case-Control Studies, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Endothelium, Vascular, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Female, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Forearm, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Ghrelin, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Homeostasis, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Humans, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Male, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Metabolic Syndrome X, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Middle Aged, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Nitric Oxide Synthase, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Obesity, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Plethysmography, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Probability, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Receptor, Endothelin A, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Reference Values, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Vasoconstriction, pubmed-meshheading:19786648-Vasodilation
pubmed:year
2009
pubmed:articleTitle
Ghrelin restores the endothelin 1/nitric oxide balance in patients with obesity-related metabolic syndrome.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't