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Plasma Levels of Acylated Ghrelin in Children with Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Congenital Heart Disease

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Abstract

This study aims to estimate plasma levels of acylated ghrelin in children with pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with congenital heart disease (CHD) and to correlate the levels of acylated ghrelin with endothelin-1 (ET-1), nitric oxide (NO), and clinical hemodynamic parameters. We investigated the plasma concentration of acylated ghrelin, ET-1, NO, and the hemodynamic parameters in 20 children with CHD, 20 children with PH-CHD, and 20 normal children. Plasma-acylated ghrelin and NO levels were significantly higher in CHD group than in control subjects (P < 0.001). Moreover, plasma-acylated ghrelin, ET-1, and NO levels were significantly elevated in PH-CHD group compared with the CHD group (P < 0.05). In PH-CHD children, plasma-acylated ghrelin levels correlated positively with pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP; r = 0.740, P < 0.001), pulmonary artery diastolic pressure (PADP; r = 0.613, P = 0.004), right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP; r = 0.642, P = 0.002), mean pulmonary arterial hypertension (mPAP; r = 0.685, P = 0.001), right ventricle diameter (RVD; r = 0.473, P = 0.035), pulmonary artery trunk diameter (PAD; r = 0.613, P = 0.004), NO (r = 0.463, P = 0.04), and ET-1 (r = 0.524, P = 0.018). Plasma-acylated ghrelin levels were elevated both in CHD and in PH-CHD. Increased acylated ghrelin levels correlated positively with ET-1, NO, PASP, PADP, RVSP, mPAP, RVD, and PAD. Acylated ghrelin may be a new biomarker of PH-CHD.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ying Fan (Department of Ultrasound, the Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou, China). This study was supported by the Talent Foundation of the affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College (2012).

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The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Pediatrics, The Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, No. 25 Taiping Street, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China

      Gang Li, Peng Jia, Jian Zhao, Yuqin Sun & Bin Liu

    2. Research Center for Drug and Functional Foods of Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China

      Jiyi Xia

    3. Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou, 646000, Sichuan, China

      Changxue Wu

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    1. Gang Li
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    Correspondence to Bin Liu.

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    Gang Li and Jiyi Xia have contributed equally to this work.

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    Li, G., Xia, J., Jia, P. et al. Plasma Levels of Acylated Ghrelin in Children with Pulmonary Hypertension Associated with Congenital Heart Disease. Pediatr Cardiol 36, 1423–1428 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-015-1178-5

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-015-1178-5

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