Data is accumulating of the role of ET-1 in brain death and organ donation; activation of the endothelin axis has been demonstrated early in BD-related pulmonary inflammation [8], it contributes to complications associated with human lung donation [12, 36, 37] and it may contribute to the altered cardiopulmonary haemodynamics observed in the current study, similar to other forms of pulmonary hypertension. This evidence concerns the gene EDN1 and pulmonary hypertension.