This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

www.rndsystems.com/product_results.aspx?k=endothelin

there are test kits on the market....
expensive!

Interesting! I downloaded the fact sheet for one of the "human endothelin-1 tests listed on the page link you posted. The fact sheet says:

"Human Endothelin-1 Immunoassay
For the quantitative determination of endothelin-1 (ET-1) concentrations in cell culture supernates, serum, plasma, and urine.
FOR RESEARCH USE ONLY.
NOT FOR USE IN DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES."

Maybe the diagnostic test version of it would be cheaper? Or maybe there is no diagnostic test available yet, I couldn't find one. But a person could always call up a human blood work lab and ask.

Mary Ann

I discussed with with my gp when I had a physical in March and requested the endothelin blood test. He said it was very expensive and wouldn't be covered by insurance as part of a routine blood work up.

An endothelin 1 test isn't a regular serum test, and is very expensive--- but there are other easy and inexpensive blood tests that point to trouble with the endothelium and later can show resolution after treatment. I learned about this because these were the very same blood tests that Jeff had irregular results on at his first flare.

Once Jeff has been on the endothelial health program for several months, his blood numbers stabilized and were in a normal range.

ESR, also known as SED rate---

The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is an easy, inexpensive, nonspecific test that has been used for many years to help detect conditions associated with acute and chronic inflammation, including infections, cancers, and autoimmune diseases. ESR is said to be nonspecific because increased results do not tell the doctor exactly where the inflammation is in the body or what is causing it, and also because it can be affected by other conditions besides inflammation. For this reason, the ESR is typically used in conjunction with other tests.

http://labtestsonline.org/understanding ... r/tab/test

Liver enzymes---AST and ALT
Jeff's liver enzymes were 10x normal at his first flare and diagnosis. His neuro told him to "stop drinking alcohol"...and when I told her Jeff didn't drink, she rolled her eyes. As I learned in the next two years, elevated liver enzymes are a sign of endothelial dysfunction.

The main side effect of ET-1 antagonists is the increase of liver enzymes likely due to an accumulation of bile salts cytotoxic to hepatocytes.

http://cardiovascres.oxfordjournals.org ... 2/227.full

homocysteine levels --these are often high when there is a lack of adequate B vitamins. But they are also high when there is too much endothelin 1 in the plasma.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16421120

Hope this info helps...but we should continue to ask why the endothelin 1 levels are so high in pwMS...I don't think it's because you're all hitting the bottle, as Jeff's neurologist assumed. I think it's because CCSVI is creating venous insufficiency and endothelial dysfunction.
Jeff no longer has high SED rate, high liver enzymes, petechiae or jaundice. He also has working jugular veins.
cheer

Thanks Cheer!
It must've been something to be chasing down the vascular side of MS and then to have Zamboni's research land here at TIMS.

Cece wrote:www.mpbio.com/product_info.php?open=&cP ... ountry=223

Toxic peptides from a snake venom, the sarafotoxins, show structural and functional homology to Endothelin-1.

Indian National Snakebite Protocol Consultation Meeting
2nd August 2007
Delhi

http://files.meetup.com/1166925/Snakebi ... a_2007.pdf

I read section Anti Snake Venom (ASV) - p.12 of the pdf .