Is there a role for atrial peptides in the labyrinthine "disease"?

The important role of atrial natriuretic peptides (ANP) in regulating blood pressure and changing vascular permeability has been widely studied and assessed during the last ten years. Considering the characteristics of this mechanism, which is responsible for a hypotensive and hypovolemic effect, and the possible role of hypotension associated with a default of autoregulatory sympathetic reactions in inner ear unexplained disorders, it seems reasonable to hypothesize a possible involvement of ANP system in the genesis of such disorders. As a matter of fact, the presence of specific receptors for ANP in the inner ear has been widely reported in studies concerning both rat and human inner ear, although their precise role in the labyrinthine homeostasis has not been satisfactory explained until now. Some aspects concerning vascular and fluid regulation of the inner ear under different conditions still remain not totally clear, and consequently a detailed explanation to the possible mechanism causing inner ear disorders of functional origin is lacking; from this point of view, an investigation on the serum level of ANP in subjects with labyrinthine affections of uncertain origin could be of some utility in contributing to assess the role of this system in the inner ear fluid regulation and in the inner ear perfusion and to investigate on the possible influence of an abnormal ANP release in some kind of inner ear damage.