The B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), a member of the natriuretic peptide family and a cardiac hormone, is produced mainly in the ventricular myocytes and released into the circulation due to mechanical stimuli during an increasing cardiac wall stretch. BNP has a significant role in the regulation of the cardiovascular system and body fluid. The concentration of this hormone and of the biologically inactive amino-terminal-prohormone in the blood plasma is a helpful diagnostic tool for detecting cardiovascular diseases in human medicine and can be used as a prognostic marker for the risk of mortality, whilst such a tool does not exist for avian medicine. To date, the amino acid sequence of BNP is not known for many of the species commonly presented in avian consultation. In this study, the amino acid sequence of BNP and the prepropeptide was described for 12 parrot species as well as 3 raptor and 3 owl species by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) after RNA isolation from the heart. The results showed a high similarity between the amino acid sequences in the mature peptide region of the BNP. The prepropeptide showed several differences between the examined species, some of them shared by closely related species.
Keywords: brain natriuretic peptide; cardiovascular diseases; heart; owls; parrots; raptors.