Involvement of the atrial natriuretic peptide in cardiovascular pathophysiology and its relationship with exercise

The atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) has a broad homeostatic role and exerts complex effects on the cardio-circulatory hemodynamics. It influences renal function and lipid metabolism. Its discovery provided a powerful blood propulsion pump to the heart, besides its important endocrine functions. The ANP is produced from a prohormone (pro-ANP), a molecule of 126 amino acids secreted primarily by atrial myocytes after increased tension of the atrial wall [1].The ANP is produced by the left atrium and has a key role in regulating sodium and water balance in mammals and humans [1,2]. The dominant stimulus for its release is atrial wall tension, a frequent phenomenon occurring during the changes that occur within the cardiovascular exercise. In order to restore and maintain cardiovascular homeostasis the heart synthesizes peptides and hormones with diuretic, natriuretic and vasodilator properties [3,4].It was observed that concentrations of circulating ANP increase during mild exercise, and during the growing intensity of the maximum levels the concentration reach values up to two to three times higher. These increased concentrations may be related to cardiac functional impairment in people with chronic heart failure (CHF) who are submitted to exercise, in which it was observed that the concentration of this hormone was more evident compared to healthy people [5]. Exercise is a non-pharmacologic way to treat many cardiovascular diseases [6-9], hence, further studies investigating non-pharmacological therapies such as exercise, are always welcome in the literature.In view of the above considerations, in this minireview we described the involvement of the ANP in cardiovascular pathophysiology and its relationship with exercise.The Medline (via PubMed), Lilacs and Scielo databases were searched using the following subject keywords: "Atrial natriuretic peptide," "cardiovascular" and "pathophysiology". We also used the "related articles" function on PubMed, Lilacs and Scielo,