Serum endothelin-1 measurement in healthy Maine Coon cats

The plasma concentration of endothelin (ET)-1 increases in human patients with congestive heart failure and is correlated with the degree of hemodynamic and functional changes. An increase in plasma ET-1 concentration is also correlated with cell proliferation, vasoconstriction, hypertrophy of cardiomyocytes and activation of cardiac fibroblasts, all of which are associated with clinical manifestations of heart failure (HF) and pathological remodeling of the heart. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most commonly diagnosed heart disease in cats and is characterized by increased cardiac mass associated with concentric left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), which is associated with mutations in the cardiac myosin binding protein C (MYBPC3) gene in Maine Coon (MC) cats. ET-1 serum concentrations were measured in 38 healthy MC cats using the human ELISA assay validated for the feline species. Unfortunately, the ET-1 values could not be assessed in the present study because they were above the maximum levels of sensitivity of the test used. ET-1 serum measurements without aprotinin in healthy MC cats is greater than values ET-1 plasma concentration with aprotinin reported by literature in healthy cats using the Biomedica Endothelin (1-21) diagnosis kit. Using this kit for serum ET-1 measurements without aprotinin in MC cats the dilution of samples is necessary. (AU)