Endothelin-1 in cerebrospinal fluid in elderly patients with hypertension and dementia.

Endothelin-1, a potent endothelium-derived vasoconstrictive peptide, is also known to exist in the central nervous system. We determined endothelin-1-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid by a radioimmunoassay in 32 normotensive or hypertensive elderly subjects (79 +/- 8 years old) with or without multi-infarction dementia. The mean value of endothelin-1-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid was significantly (P < .05) elevated in subjects with essential hypertension (> or = 160/95 mm Hg, n = 5, 79 +/- 9 years old) compared with those with borderline hypertension (140-159/90-94 mm Hg, n = 4, 78 +/- 5 years old) and normotensive subjects (< 140/90 mm Hg, n = 23, 79 +/- 8 years old). The value of endothelin-1-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid was significantly (P < .05) positively correlated with both systolic (r = .38) and diastolic (r = .42) blood pressures in all subjects. On the other hand, mean values of endothelin-1-like immunoreactivity in cerebrospinal fluid were also significantly (P < .05) elevated in the groups of patients with multi-infarction dementia that had profoundly decreased Mini-Mental State scores (< or = 10, n = 6) and moderately decreased Mini-Mental State scores (11 to 20, n = 14) compared with those values in subjects with normal cognitive function (score for Mini-Mental State > or = 21, n = 12).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)