Plasma calcitonin gene-related peptide decreases in chronic congestive heart failure.

ABSTRACT

To investigate the role of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in cardiac failure, a sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay was developed to study plasma levels of CGRP in 37 normal subjects and 41 patients with heart failure (HF). The mean plasma levels of CGRP were 294.3 pg.ml-1 (SEM 41.4) in normal subjects and 121.2 pg.ml-1 (SEM 21.2) in HF patients. The significant decrease observed in HF patients suggests that CGRP is involved in the pathogenesis of heart failure via a direct effect or via modulation of sympathetic nervous activity.