Heads and Tails of Natriuretic Peptides: Neuroprotective Role of Brain Natriuretic Peptide.

Background: Besides the relevant role of brain-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) as biomarker of cardioembolic strokes, new experimental evidences suggest that this peptide may mediate neuroprotective effects. In this study, we have evaluated for the first time the clinical association between BNP (by means of proBNP) and good outcome in ischemic stroke patients, and analyzed the effect of blood BNP increase in an ischemic animal model.

Methods And Results: A retrospective study with 2 different cohorts (262 patients in cohort I and 610 in cohort II) from the same prospective stroke registry was performed.