Atrial natriuretic peptides in plasma

Measurement of cardiac natriuretic peptides in plasma has gained a diagnostic role in the assessment of heart failure. Plasma measurement is though hampered by the marked instability of the hormones, which has led to the development of analyses that target N-terminal fragments from the prohormone. These fragments are stable in plasma and represent surrogate markers of the actual natriuretic hormone. Post-translational processing of the precursors, however, is revealing itself to be a complex event with new information still being reported on proteolysis, covalent modifications, and amino acid derivatizations. In this mini-review, we summarize measurement of the principal cardiac hormone, e.g. atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and its precursor fragments. We also highlight some of the analytical pitfalls and problems and the concurrent clinical "proof of concept". We conclude that biochemical research into proANP-derived peptides is still worthy of attention and that new biological insight may change our chemical perception of the markers.