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Pharmacologically Active Levels of PGE‐, in Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease
Author(s) -
LEONHARDT A.,
KÜHL P. G.,
SCHWEER H.,
WOLF D.,
SEYBERTH H. W.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1989.tb11163.x
Subject(s) - medicine , prostaglandin , ductus arteriosus , hormone , prostaglandin e , heart disease , endocrinology , endogeny , in vivo , prostaglandin e2 , biology , microbiology and biotechnology
. In general, prostanoids act as local mediators, not as circulating hormones. A specific exception to this rule is the infusion of prostaglandin E 1 in patients with ductus arteriosus‐depend‐ent pulmonary or systemic blood flow associated with congenital heart disease. We therefore measured prostaglandin E, plasma levels by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry during effective infusion of prostaglandin E 1 in 10 neonates. Prostaglandin E 1 plasma levels ranged from 22 to 530 (median 56) pg/ml in these patients. Since prostaglandin E 1 is not synthesized endogenously to any significant extent, these plasma concentrations constitute genuine circulating levels not confounded by the common problem of e vivo artifacts. If endogenous prostanoids (e.g. prostaglandin E 2 ) are suspected as circulating mediators, plasma levels detected by reliable methods ought to be in the same range as prostaglandin E 1 plasma levels in the present investigation.