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. 2021 Oct 25;28(4):489-495.
doi: 10.3390/pathophysiology28040031.

Circulating Levels of Endothelin-1 and Big Endothelin-1 in Patients with Essential Hypertension

Krasimir Kostov  1 , Alexander Blazhev  2
Affiliations

Circulating Levels of Endothelin-1 and Big Endothelin-1 in Patients with Essential Hypertension

Krasimir Kostov et al. Pathophysiology. .

Abstract

The role of endothelin-1 (ET-1) in the pathogenesis of hypertension (HTN) is not clearly established. There is evidence that its circulating levels are elevated in some forms of experimental and human HTN, but this was not a consistent finding. Based on these controversial data, we tested serum levels of ET-1 and Big ET-1 (the precursor of ET-1) in patients with essential HTN, comparing the results with those of healthy normotensive controls. The levels of ET-1 and Big ET-1 were measured by ELISA. Our results in patients with essential HTN showed that the mean levels of ET-1 (5.01 ± 2.1 pg/mL) were significantly higher (F = 6.34, p = 0.0144) than the mean levels in the control group (3.2 ± 1.0 pg/mL). The levels of Big ET-1 in patients with essential HTN (0.377 ± 0.1 pmol/L) were similar to those in the control group (0.378 ± 0.07 pmol/L) and did not differ significantly (F = 0.00, p = 0.9531). These data suggest that ET-1, but not Big ET-1, may play an important role in the pathogenesis of primary HTN.

Keywords: big endothelin-1; endothelin-1; essential hypertension.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Serum levels of ET-1 in hypertensive group vs. control group. Data are represented as mean ± SD.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Serum levels of Big ET-1 in hypertensive group vs. control group. Data are represented as mean ± SD. n.s.—not significant (p > 0.05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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