Background:Cardiac nerve sprouting was associated with ventricular tachyarrhythmia(VT), it has been known that plasma nerve growth factor(NGF) concentration reflected on nerve sprouting and the relationship between plasma NGF concentration and VT occurrence was reported in myocardial infarction(MI) animal models. The aim of this study was to investigate whether NGF is increased in MI or not and the relationship between plasma NGF concentration and VT occurrence in MI patients.Method:We regarded 10patients who VT was not induced with programmed electrical stimulation as normal control(NC) and 15patients with stable angina pectoris(SA), 30 with acute MI(AMI) were enrolled. MI patients were subdivided into VT occurrence and non VT occurrence group according to the VT occurrence in hospital period. Plasma NGF concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results:1.The plasma concentrations of AMI group were significantly increased compared with those of NC group((median(interquartile range), 18.9(8.7) vs 10.3(12.5) pg/ml, p<0.05) and the patients with SA(18.9(8.7) vs 15.1(6.7) pg/ml, p<0.05). 2.There was no significant in plasma NGF concentrations between NC and SA group. (10.3(12.5) vs 15.1(6.7)pg/ml, p=0.18). 3.In AMI patients, there was no significant difference in plasma NGF concentrations between VT occurrence and non VT occurrence group(18.5(6.7) vs 21.2(10.2)pg/ml, p=0.25). Conclusion:The plasma NGF concentrations are increased in AMI patients compared with those of normal control and stable angina.