This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Nakajima, M. Articles by Ogihara, T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Nakajima, M. Articles by Ogihara, T.

Hypertension, Vol 24, 97-100, Copyright © 1994 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

Endothelin-1 in cerebrospinal fluid in elderly patients with hypertension and dementia

M Nakajima, S Morimoto, S Takamoto, S Kitano, K Fukuo, T Onishi and T Ogihara
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Japan.

Endothelin-1, a potent endothelium-derived vasoconstrictive peptide, is also known to exist in the central nervous system. We determined endothelin-1-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid by a radioimmunoassay in 32 normotensive or hypertensive elderly subjects (79 +/- 8 years old) with or without multi-infarction dementia. The mean value of endothelin-1-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid was significantly (P < .05) elevated in subjects with essential hypertension (> or = 160/95 mm Hg, n = 5, 79 +/- 9 years old) compared with those with borderline hypertension (140-159/90-94 mm Hg, n = 4, 78 +/- 5 years old) and normotensive subjects (< 140/90 mm Hg, n = 23, 79 +/- 8 years old). The value of endothelin-1-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid was significantly (P < .05) positively correlated with both systolic (r = .38) and diastolic (r = .42) blood pressures in all subjects. On the other hand, mean values of endothelin-1-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid were also significantly (P < .05) elevated in the groups of patients with multi-infarction dementia that had profoundly decreased Mini-Mental State scores (< or = 10, n = 6) and moderately decreased Mini-Mental State scores (11 to 20, n = 14) compared with those values in subjects with normal cognitive function (score for Mini-Mental State > or = 21, n = 12).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)