These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Plasma levels of endothelin-1 in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
    Author: Letizia C, Boirivant M, De Toma G, Cerci S, Subioli S, Scuro L, Ferrari P, Pallone F.
    Journal: Ital J Gastroenterol Hepatol; 1998 Jun; 30(3):266-9. PubMed ID: 9759593.
    Abstract:
    AIM: The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavior of circulating endothelin-1, a vasoconstrictor and mitogenic peptide, in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. PATIENTS: We investigated plasma endothelin-1 levels in 29 patients with Crohn's disease, 13 with ulcerative colitis and 26 healthy subjects as controls. METHODS: Erythrocyte sedimentation and C-reactive protein were also measured in all patients. Plasma endothelin-1 was measured by specific radioimmunoassay and expressed as pg/ml. RESULTS: Both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients showed a significant increase in plasma endothelin-1 concentration (22.3 +/- 8.2 pg/ml and 11.2 +/- 2.7 pg/ml, respectively) when compared to healthy subjects (6.2 +/- 1.5 pg/ml). Moreover, plasma endothelin-1 levels were significantly higher in Crohn's disease patients than those in ulcerative colitis patients (22.3 +/- 8.2 pg/ml vs 11.2 +/- 2.7 pg/ml; p < 0.001, respectively). A weak correlation (r = 0.645; p < 0.013) between erythrocyte sedimentation and endothelin-1 levels was observed in Crohn's disease patients. Age, sex, clinical activity of the disease, duration of history, anatomical localization of disease and therapy had no influence on plasma endothelin-1 levels. CONCLUSION: Our results show that plasma endothelin-1 levels increase in chronic inflammatory bowel disease and mainly in Crohn's disease. This observation leads us on to believe that endothelin-1 has a important role in inflammatory bowel disease.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]