Abstract
Aim:
To evaluate and compare serum procalcitonin (PCT) and calcitonin (hCT) levels before and after stimulation with intravenous calcium gluconate in selected thyroid healthy subjects.
Methods:
There were enrolled 78 healthy blood donors with no history of thyroid disease, renal disease, neuroendocrine tumours, infections or inflammatory diseases, and taking no proton-pump inhibitors medication. Serum PCT and hCT were measured before and after intravenous injection of 2.5 mg/kg calcium gluconate.
Results:
Undetectable basal PCT values were found in all subjects while a marginal increase occurred only in 2 male subjects after stimulation. The basal and stimulated 95th percentile hCT values were 7.80 pg/mL and 102 pg/mL in males and 5.20 pg/mL and 78.5 pg/mL in females, respectively.
Conclusions:
Our data suggest that calcium gluconate physiologically stimulate the release of mature hCT molecule from the parafollicular C-cells with no or minimal effects on the PCT release. Our preliminary results form a reliable reference platform for basal and calcium-stimulated PCT measurements in clinical studies.
Key words
calcitonin - procalcitonin - medullary thyroid carcinoma - calcium gluconate
