Biochemistry of cardiac hormones

Abstract

Since the discovery of an increased diuresis by left heart atria distension by Henry, et al. (15), and the first observation of Kisch (22) that the atria contain myocardial cells with particular inclusions, many attempts have been made to characterize the nature of hypothetized cardiac hormones. The first authors to emphasize an endocrine nature of atrial cells were Jamieson and Palade (19). However, for a long time it was suggested that the specific granules contain catecholamines. A direct involvement of atrial granularity in the regulatory process of electrolyte body fluid homeostasis was established by Marie et al. (26). Only since the early 1980s, have biological tests been available that allow the detection of specific functions of heart atrial extracts. DeBold and collaborators (5) introduced a diuretic test for rat atrial extracts. Deth et al. (6), Currie et al. (2), Grammer et al. (13), and Forssmann et al. (9), introduced tests to demonstrate the relaxation of smooth vascular muscle strips after the application of atrial extracts. However, it was not clear whether the atrial diuretic and vasorelaxant substances were all the same bioactive substances. Nevertheless, these tests incited the conception about the endocrine role of the heart in the regulation of extracellular fluid volume and blood pressure.