Increased endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor in patients with congestive heart failure

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a role in controlling vascular tone and regulates the contractile properties of cardiac myocytes. Patients with heart failure exhibit high plasma levels of nitrite/nitrate (NOx), a stable metabolite of NO, and of cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha, a potent inducer of NO synthase. An increase in inducible NO synthase activity has been found in cardiac tissue from patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. These findings raise the possibility that local or systemic overproduction of NO induced by cytokines exerts a chronic negative inotropic effect on the myocardium and may have detrimental effects on systemic hemodynamics in patients with heart failure. Plasma levels of N-G,N-G-dimethylarginine (asymmetric dimethylarginine; ADMA), a circulating endogenous NO synthase inhibitor, were measured in control subjects and patients with valvular, hypertensive, or ischemic heart diseases or idiopathic cardiomyopathy. The plasma levels of NOx and ADMA were assessed by high performance liquid chromatography. The plasma levels of NOx and ADMA were significantly elevated in patients with heart failure. Both NOx and ADMA were positively correlated with New York Heart Association functional class. There was a significant inverse correlation between plasma NOx and ejection fraction, as estimated by echocardiography. A significant relationship between plasma NOx and ADMA was found only in patients with moderate to severe heart failure (r=0.41, p=0.01). Findings suggest a compensatory role of a circulating endogenous NO synthase inhibitor against induced NO synthase activity in patients with heart failure.