Intracellular calcium transients in myocardium from spontaneously hypertensive rats during the transition to heart failure

To investigate the mechanism of impaired myocardial function after long-term pressure overload, we studied cardiac muscle mechanical contraction and intracellular calcium transients using the bioluminescent indicator aequorin. Left ventricular papillary muscle preparations were examined from three groups of rats: 1) aging spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) with clinical and pathological evidence suggesting heart failure (SHR-F group), 2) age-matched SHRs with no evidence of heart failure (SHR-NF group), and 3) age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY group). Isometric force development was depressed in both SHR groups relative to the WKY group. Resting [Ca2+]i was lower in the SHR-F group, and the time to peak [Ca2+]i was prolonged in this group. The relative increases in peak [Ca2+]i with the inotropic interventions of increased [Ca2+]o and the addition of isoproterenol were similar among groups. Although inotropy increased in all groups with increased [Ca2+]o, after isoproterenol, inotropy increased only in the WKY group. Thus, in SHR myocardium, [Ca2+]i increased after isoproterenol, but inotropy failed to increase. Myosin isozymes were shifted toward the V3 isoform in both SHR groups; the V3 isoform was virtually 100% in papillary muscles from the SHR-F group. These changes may reflect events directly contributing to the development of heart failure or represent adaptive changes to chronic pressure overload and heart failure.     

自发性高血压大鼠心肌fas基因表达与左室肥厚关系探讨

目的 探讨自发性高血压大鼠（SHR）心肌fas表达及其与左室肥厚的关系。方法 自发性高血压大鼠（SHR）与正常血压大鼠各16号，尾套法测收缩压，逆转录-聚合酶边反应（RT-PCR）法测心肌fas mRNA表达。结果 与WKY相比，SHR心肌fas表达、左室重量指数(LVMI)均显著升高，且二者呈正相关。结论 自发性高血压大鼠早期心肌肥厚时心肌fas表达已经升高，可能参与后期心衰的发生。     

Temporal regulation of extracellular matrix components in transition from compensatory hypertrophy to decompensatory heart failure

OBJECTIVE: Extracellular matrix, particularly type I fibrillar collagen, provides tensile strength that allows cardiac muscle to perform systolic and diastolic functions. Collagen is induced during the transition from compensatory hypertrophy to heart failure. We hypothesized that cardiac stiffness during decompensatory hypertrophy is partly due to a decreased elastin:collagen ratio. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prepared left ventricular tissue homogenates from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) aged 30-36 weeks, which had compensatory hypertrophy with no heart failure, and from SHR aged 70-92 weeks, which had decompensatory hypertrophy with heart failure. Age- and sex-matched Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were used as normotensive controls. In both SHR groups, increased levels of collagen were detected by immuno-blot analysis using type I collagen antibody. Elastin and collagen were quantitated by measuring desmosine/isodesmosine and hydroxyproline spectrophometrically, respectively. To determine whether the decrease in elastin content was due to increased elastinolytic activity of matrix metalloproteinase-2, we performed gelatin and elastin zymography on left ventricular tissue homogenates from control rats, SHR with compensatory hypertrophy and SHR with heart failure. RESULTS: The elastin:collagen ratio was 0.242 +/- 0.008 in hearts from WKY rats. In SHR without heart failure, the ratio was decreased to 0.073 +/- 0.003 and in decompensatory hypertrophy with heart failure, the ratio decreased to 0.012 +/- 0.005. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 activity was increased significantly in SHR with heart failure compared with controls (P < 0.001). The level of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-4 was increased in compensatory hypertrophy and markedly reduced in heart failure. Decorin was strongly reduced in decompensatory heart failure compared with control hearts. CONCLUSIONS: Since collagen was induced in SHR with heart failure, decorin and elastin were decreased and the ratios of gelatinase A and elastase to tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-4 were increased, we conclude that heart failure is associated with adverse extracellular matrix remodeling.     

Spontaneously occurring hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the rat. I. Pathologic features

The gross anatomic and microscopic appearance of the hearts of young and adult WKY/NCrj rats was examined in comparison with that of normotensive Wistar and SHR/NCrj rats. In a substantial number of the WKY rats, the heart weight and thickness of ventricular septum were much greater than those of the Wistar and SHR rats. The ventricular septum to left ventricular free wall thickness ratio was greater than 1.3 in about one sixth of the WKY rats. In most of the hypertrophied WKY hearts, the transverse area of the left ventricular cavity was smaller in relation to the wall area than in the Wistar and SHR rat hearts, although in a few it was greater. Abnormal fiber arrangement, myocyte hypertrophy, and myocardial fibrosis were far more prominent in the hypertrophied myocardium of the WKY rats compared with the Wistar or SHR rats. Intramural arteries with marked wall thickening existed frequently in the hypertrophied and dilated hearts. Electron microscopic examination revealed marked disarrangement of bundles of myofilaments and widened Z-bands in the hypertrophied myocardium. Blood pressure was not elevated in the rats with cardiac hypertrophy. These findings show that a disease of the myocardium with the pathologic features similar to those of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in man occurs spontaneously in rats.     

Increase in G(i alpha) protein accompanies progression of post-infarction remodeling in hypertensive cardiomyopathy

Hypertensive cardiac hypertrophy and myocardial infarction (MI) are clinically relevant risk factors for heart failure. There is no specific information addressing signaling alterations in the sequence of hypertrophy and post-MI remodeling. To investigate alterations in beta-adrenergic receptor G-protein signaling in ventricular remodeling with pre-existing hypertrophy, MI was induced by coronary artery ligation in Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Ten weeks after the induction of MI, the progression of left ventricular dysfunction and increases in plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and cardiac ANP mRNA were more pronounced in SHR than WKY. In addition, the impaired contractile response to beta-adrenergic stimulation was observed in the noninfarcted papillary muscle isolated from SHR. Immunochemical G(s alpha) protein and beta-adrenoceptor density were not significantly altered by MI in both strains. However, immunochemical G(i alpha) was increased (1.5-fold) in the noninfarcted left ventricle of the SHR in which infarction had been induced when compared with that in SHR that underwent sham operation. This increase was observed especially in rats with a high plasma ANP level. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between G(i alpha) and the extent of post-MI remodeling in WKY. A similar correlation between G(i alpha) and the extent of hypertensive hypertrophy was observed in SHR. In conclusion, the vulnerability of hypertrophied hearts to ischemic damage is greater than that of normotensive hearts. An increase in G(i alpha) could be one mechanism involved in the transition from cardiac hypertrophy to cardiac failure when chronic pressure overload and loss of contractile mass from ischemic heart disease coexist.     

氯沙坦、福辛普利对SHR心肌细胞凋亡、心肌纤维化及AngⅡ影响

目的评价氯沙坦、福辛普利对自发性高血压大鼠(SHR)心肌细胞凋亡、心肌纤维化及血管紧张素Ⅱ的效应.方法 16周龄SHR随机分为3组氯沙坦治疗组(SHR-L组)、福辛普利治疗组(SHR-F组)、空白对照组(SHR-C组),每组各10只.分别采用末端脱氧核苷酸转移酶介导dUTP缺口末端标记(TUNEL)、放射免疫及病理检查方法对治疗8周、16周心肌细胞凋亡指数(APOT)、心肌胶原容积分数(CVF)和心肌血管周围胶原面积(PVCA)、血浆和组织血管紧张素Ⅱ检测.结果 (1)与对照组比较,两SHR治疗组8周、16周后收缩压均有明显下降,两组间比较无显著性差异;两治疗组SHR心脏肥厚指标左室重量(LVW)、左室重量指数(LVWI)均有显著性改善,治疗16周后SHR-F组与较SHR-L组LVMI显著性减低;(2)与对照组比较,治疗8周后仅SHR-F组心肌细胞凋亡指数(APOI)显著性下降,治疗16周两治疗组APOI均有显著性下降,尤以SHR-F组下降明显;(3)与对照组比较,治疗8周后SHR-L、SHR-F两组CVF和PVCA有统计学意义下降.治疗16周后与对照组比较,两治疗组CVF和PVCA均显著性下降,其中SHR-F组CVF较SHR-L组下降显著;(4)治疗8周及16周后,SHR-F组心肌组织AngⅡ显著下降, SHR-L组血浆及心肌组织AngⅡ显著增加.结论两药物均能有效逆转心脏肥厚及抗心肌细胞凋亡及心肌纤维化,其中以福辛普利作用显著.两药物上述作用与拮抗心肌组织肾素-血管紧张素-醛固酮系统(RAS)效应有关.     

Regulation of ventricular atrial natriuretic peptide release in hypertrophied rat myocardium. Effects of exercise

Left ventricular hypertrophy is characterized by stimulation of ventricular synthesis of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). This study was designed to test the hypothesis that the increased ventricular ANP levels participate in the release of ANP into the circulation. Swimming was used as a physiologic model to induce ANP release from the heart, and atrial and ventricular levels of immunoreactive ANP (IR-ANP) and ANP messenger RNA (mRNA) were measured simultaneously in the spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats at rest and after swimming. IR-ANP concentration in the left ventricle of 1-year-old SHR with severe left ventricular hypertrophy was increased in association with the augmentation of ANP mRNA levels, whereas right ventricular levels of ANP were reduced in SHR compared with normotensive controls. A 30-minute exercise in hypertensive and in normotensive rats resulted in marked increases in mean arterial pressure, heart rate, plasma catecholamine levels, blood lactate levels, and plasma IR-ANP concentration. The increased ANP secretion was associated with a decrease in left (34-39%) and right (24%) ventricular concentration of IR-ANP; transmurally, this depletion of ventricular IR-ANP was greatest (28%) in the endocardial layer of the left ventricle of SHR. No significant differences were noted in total atrial and left or right auricular IR-ANP concentration between SHR and WKY rats or between the resting and swimming rats. When studied in vitro with an isolated, perfused heart preparation, the hypertrophic ventricular tissue after atrialectomy secreted more ANP into the perfusate than did control hearts; in SHR, ventricles contributed 28% of the total ANP release to perfusate, and in normotensive control rats, ventricles contributed 8%. These studies show that stimulated release of ANP is associated with depletion of endocardial left ventricular stores. The amount of ANP released in vitro and in vivo correlated with the degree of hypertrophy of the ventricle. Finally, the phorbol ester, known to increase ANP secretion from intact perfused hearts, had only a limited effect on ANP release after atrialectomy, suggesting that the secretion of ANP from ventricular cells may be mainly of the constitutive type.     

Differential regulation of cardiac adrenomedullin and natriuretic peptide gene expression by AT1 receptor antagonism and ACE inhibition in normotensive and hypertensive rats

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of long-term treatment with the type 1 angiotensin (AT1) receptor antagonist losartan and the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor enalapril, on cardiac adrenomedullin (ADM), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) gene expression. METHODS: Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were given losartan (15 mg/kg per day) or enalapril (4 mg/kg per day) orally for 10 weeks. The effects of drugs on systolic blood pressure, cardiac hypertrophy, ANP, BNP and ADM mRNA and immunoreactive-ANP (IR)-ANP, IR-BNP and IR-ADM levels in the left ventricle and atria were compared. RESULTS: Losartan and enalapril treatments completely inhibited the increase of systolic blood pressure occurring with ageing in SHR. The ratio of heart to body weight was reduced in both losartan- and enalapril-treated SHR and WKY rats. Treatment with losartan or enalapril reduced left ventricular ANP mRNA and IR-ANP in both strains, and ventricular BNP mRNA levels in SHR rats. Inhibition of ACE, AT1 receptor antagonism, changes in blood pressure or cardiac mass had no effect on left ventricular ADM gene expression in SHR and WKY rats. In addition, atrial IR-ANP and IR-ADM levels increased in SHR whereas IR-BNP levels decreased in WKY and SHR rats in response to drug treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that ventricular ADM synthesis is an insensitive marker of changes in haemodynamic load or cardiac hypertrophy. Furthermore, the expression of ADM, ANP and BNP genes is differently regulated both in the left ventricle and atria in response to AT1 receptor antagonism and ACE inhibition.     

Cosegregation analysis in genetic crosses suggests a protective role for atrial natriuretic factor against ventricular hypertrophy.

In most rat models studied to date, increased ventricular mass is associated with high ventricular expression of the atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) gene. However, it is unknown whether ANF plays a beneficial or detrimental role in the course of left ventricular hypertrophy or whether ANF gene expression could be genetically linked to cardiac mass. To address such questions, we performed a cosegregation analysis in genetic crosses of inbred strains of rats. To select strains with the appropriate phenotypic characteristics, we first compared the ventricular abundance of ANF mRNA to ventricular mass (corrected for body weight) in 2 recombinant inbred strains derived from Wistar-Kyoto (WKY)/spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) hybrid crosses, ie, WKY-derived hyperactive (WKHA) and WKY-derived hypertensive (WKHT) rats, as well as in their parental inbred strains. In the 2 such strains that were normotensive, we observed that ventricular mass was higher in WKHA than in WKY rats, yet ventricular ANF mRNA was less abundant in WKHA than in WKY rats. Within a segregating population of F2 animals generated from a cross between WKY and WKHA genitors, the abundance of ventricular ANF mRNA and peptide correlated inversely with left ventricular mass, in contrast to the positive correlation observed with beta-myosin heavy chain mRNA. Finally, in the equally hypertensive SHR and WKHT strains, we found that ventricular mass was higher in SHR than in WKHT, yet ventricular ANF mRNA was less abundant in SHR than in WKHT. These results demonstrate for the first time that low ventricular ANF gene expression can be linked genetically to high cardiac mass independently of blood pressure and are consistent with a protective role for ANF against left ventricular hypertrophy.     

Diverse effects of chronic treatment with losartan, fosinopril, and amlodipine on apoptosis, angiotensin II in the left ventricle of hypertensive rats.

This study was designed to investigate diverse effects of angiotensin II (AngII) type I receptor antagonists, losartan, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, fosinopril, and calcium channel blockade, amlodipine on cardiomyocyte apoptosis and AngII in the left ventricle of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The SHRs were randomized to four groups: SHR-L (treated with losartan, 30 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)), SHR-F (with fosinopril, 10 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)), SHR-A (with amlodipine, 10 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) and SHR-C (with placebo). The cardiomyocyte apoptosis was examined by in situ TDT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling, AngII concentrations of plasma and myocardium were measured by radio immunoassay at 8 and 16 weeks of the study respectively. The results showed that: (1) compared with SHR-C at 8 and 16 weeks respectively; the systolic blood pressure was decreased similarly in the three treatment groups. Left ventricular weight and mass indexes were reduced in the three treatment groups. The latter parameter at 16 weeks was lower in SHR-F than that in the other two treatment groups. (2) Compared with SHR-C, the cardiomyocyte apoptotic index (APOI) was reduced significantly at 8 weeks only in SHR-F, and at 16 weeks in all three treatment groups. The APOI of SHR-F was lowest among the three treatment groups examined at latter endpoint. (3) Compared with SHR-C at both endpoints of this study, plasma and myocardium AngII levels were increased in SHR-L. However, plasma AngII concentrations were not altered in SHR-F and SHR-A, myocardium AngII concentrations were reduced significantly at 8 weeks only in SHR-F, and at 16 weeks in SHR-F and SHR-A. Meanwhile, myocardium AngII in SHR-F at 16 weeks was lower than that in SHR-A. The results of this study indicate that losartan, fosinopril, and amlodipine each effectively reverses heart hypertrophy and inhibits cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and fosinopril may be most effective in these cardioprotective effects. These findings suggest that the effects of the three blockers on myocardiocyte apoptosis and left ventricular hypertrophy were related to inhibition of the myocardium rennin-angiotensin-aldsterone system.     

沉默信息调节因子相关酶3在自发性高血压大鼠心肌高表达与左心室肥厚相关

目的观察沉默信息调节因子相关酶3(sirtuin3)在自发性高血压大鼠(SHR)心肌中的表达,并探讨sirtuin3在高血压所致左心室肥厚(LVH)中的作用。方法 24只29周龄SHR随机分为SHR30周龄组(喂养1周,n=11)和SHR38周龄组(喂养9周,n=13),另选20只29周龄Wistar-Kyoto(WKY)大鼠随机分为WKY30周龄组(喂养1周,n=10)和WKY38周龄组(喂养9周,n=10)作为正常对照。各组测定尾动脉收缩压和左心室质量(LVM)/体质量。Masson染色法分析左心室肌间质纤维化程度,心脏超声测定心功能。采用免疫组化,Western-blot及实时荧光定量PCR来检测心肌组织中sirtuin3的蛋白及mRNA表达。结果与WKY30、38周龄组大鼠比较,SHR30、38周龄组的收缩压[30周龄(189.0±6.8)比(103.4±3.6)mmHg;38周龄(205.6±10.9)比(116.3±4.3)mmHg]、LVM/体质量[30周龄(2.94±0.11)比(2.56±0.21);38周龄(3.21±0.15)比(2.68±0.24)]、左心室收缩末期内径[30周龄(4.27±0.13)比(3.59±0.08)mm;38周龄(5.46±0.14)比(4.21±0.08)mm]、舒张末期室间隔厚度[30周龄(2.63±0.15)比(2.09±0.06)mm;38周龄(2.82±0.09)比(2.35±0.08)mm]、舒张末期左心室后壁厚度[30周龄(2.78±0.12)比(2.15±0.09)mm;38周龄(2.99±0.12)比(2.44±0.07)mm]、sirtuin3mRNA和蛋白表达升高(均P<0.05);左心室短轴缩短率、左心室舒张末期内径降低(均P<0.05),SHR大鼠表现出左心室明显肥厚,左心室收缩及舒张功能明显减低,并随着周龄的延长,心肌肥厚及心功能障碍加重(P<0.05)。结论心肌组织sirtuin3高表达与左心室肥厚密切相关。     

Attenuation of cardiac failure, dilatation, damage, and detrimental interstitial remodeling without regression of hypertrophy in hypertensive rats

Whether left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy is important in the development of LV failure associated with advanced myocardial damage and detrimental chamber and interstitial remodeling in hypertension has not been established. We examined the effect of an antihypertensive agent without the ability to regress LV hypertrophy on the development of LV changes in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Hydralazine given to SHR from 5.2 to 26 months of age returned systolic blood pressure to Wistar Kyoto (WKY) control values but failed to prevent the increase in LV mass noted in SHR (at 26 months of age: WKY, 0.99+/-0.02 g; untreated SHR, 1.40+/-0.02 g; treated SHR, 1.36+/-0.02 g; P<0.001 in SHR versus WKY). In comparison to both 16-month-old SHR and age-matched WKY, 26-month-old untreated SHR developed signs consistent with heart failure, LV dilatation (an increased LV internal radius), an eccentric LV geometry, advanced myocyte necrosis, an increase in myocardial collagen solubility (an index of decreases in myocardial collagen cross-linking), and marked increases in myocardial total, type III, and non-cross-linked myocardial collagen concentrations. Despite the inability of hydralazine to regress LV hypertrophy, treated SHR did not develop signs of heart failure, myocyte necrosis, decreases in myocardial collagen cross-linking, or increases in myocardial total, type III, and non-cross-linked collagen at 26 months of age. Moreover, treatment attenuated the development of LV dilatation and an eccentric LV geometry. In conclusion, antihypertensive therapy that does not attenuate LV hypertrophy but achieves normal blood pressure in SHR, is able to hinder the development of heart failure associated with advanced myocardial damage and detrimental chamber and interstitial remodeling.     

复方降压片对高血压大鼠冠状动脉壁肥厚和储备力下降的影响

目的 研究复方降压片对高血压大鼠冠状动脉壁肥厚和储备力下降的影响。方法 4w大鼠设4组：分别为自发性高血压大鼠(SHR)组、SHR口服复方降压片组、SHR口服卡托普利组和正常血压大鼠(WKY)组，饲养12w。冠脉最大血流量用离体心脏灌注法测定。结果 复方降压片能显著降低SHR收缩压、冠状动脉横截面积，提高最大冠状动脉流量，与卡托普利相似。复方降压片能降低SHR的左心室重与体重比，但仍然显著高于WKY组和口服卡托普利组。结论 复方降压片能预防SHR冠状动脉壁肥厚、储备力下降，减轻左心室肥厚；冠状动脉血流储备力的损害程度和左心室肥厚程度不平行。     

Reduced left ventricular hypertrophy following long-term water deprivation in the young spontaneously hypertensive rat

Biochemical and physical parameters of cardiac hypertrophy accompanying hypertension were studied in water deprived versus non-deprived immature spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their normotensive progenitor strain, Wistar Kyoto (WKY). A 23.5 hour/day water deprivation schedule was maintained from 5 to 13 weeks of age in 23 SHR and 8 WKY rats to compare the non-deprived animals (16 SHR and 8 WKY controls). Water deprived SHR had lower left ventricular weight, lower total protein and hydroxyproline and the same total DNA as the non-deprived SHR. DNA concentration was higher in the deprived SHR than in the non-deprived SHR. No differences were found among the four groups in right ventricular weight or DNA concentration. Left to right ventricular weight ratio was significantly lower and left to right ventricular DNA concentration ratio significantly higher in the deprived SHR relative to non-deprived SHR. These data indicate that the water deprived SHR, which was less hypertensive than the non-deprived SHR, had less hypertrophy of their left ventricles. While water deprivation lowered mean arterial pressure in the WKY, also, there was no effect on left ventricular weight or biochemical indices of left ventricular cell size and cell number.     

Passive mechanical stretch releases atrial natriuretic peptide from rat ventricular myocardium.

Ventricular hypertrophy is characterized by augmentation of synthesis, storage, and release of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) from ventricular tissue, but the physiological stimulus for ANP release from ventricles is not known. We determined the effect of graded, passive myocardial stretch on ANP release in isolated, arrested, perfused heart preparations after removal of the atria in 13-20-month-old Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). By this age, ANP gene expression was increased in the hypertrophic ventricular cells of SHR, as reflected by elevated levels of immunoreactive ANP and ANP mRNA and the increased ANP secretion (SHR, 93 +/- 14 pg/ml, n = 22; WKY rats, 22 +/- 2 pg/ml, n = 20; p less than 0.001) from perfused ventricles after removal of the atria. The release of ANP from ventricles was examined at two levels of left ventricular pressure by increasing the volume of the intraventricular balloon for 10 minutes. Stretching of the ventricles produced a rapid but transient increase in ANP secretion. As left ventricular pressure rose from 0 to 14 and 26 mm Hg in WKY rats and from 0 to 13 and 27 mm Hg in SHR, increases in ANP release into the perfusate of 1.4 +/- 0.1-fold and 1.5 +/- 0.2-fold (p less than 0.05) in WKY rats and 1.1 +/- 0.1-fold and 1.6 +/- 0.2-fold (p less than 0.05) in SHR, respectively, were observed. There was a highly significant correlation between the left ventricular pressure level and the maximal concentration of ANP in the perfusate during stretching (p less than 0.001, r = 0.59, n = 42), as well as between the maximal ANP concentrations in perfusate during stretching and the ventricular weight/body weight ratios of the corresponding animals (r = 0.38, p less than 0.05, n = 42). High performance liquid chromatographic analysis revealed that the ventricles both before and during stretch primarily released the processed, active, 28-amino acid ANP-like peptide into the perfusate. These results indicate that stretching is a direct stimulus for ventricular ANP release and show that ANP is also a ventricular hormone.     

Effects of chronic hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy on the extent of infarct expansion in rats

Left ventricular hypertrophy is an adaptive response to long standing hypertension. However, the influence of left ventricular hypertrophy with hypertension on extent of infarct expansion has not been studied. We compared the effects of left ventricular hypertrophy with hypertension on infarct expansion in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR, n = 76), Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY; n = 46) and spontaneously hypertensive rats treated with delapril, an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor (SHRD; n = 39). The survival rates at 7 days after myocardial infarction were 41%, 24%, and 46% for WKY, SHR, and SHRD. The survival rate of SHR was significantly lower than those of both SHRD and WKY (P < .05). In the surviving rats (18 SHR, 19 WKY, 18 SHRD), both left ventricular cavity area (LCVA) and the infarct segment length per the noninfarct segment length (FW/IVS), measured as indices of left ventricular dilation, were significantly less in SHR and SHRD than in WKY, and the thickness of the left ventricular free wall (Wth), used as an index of left ventricular thinning, was significantly higher in both SHR and SHRD than in WKY (P < .01). However, there was no significant difference in FW/IVS, LCVA, and Wth between SHR and SHRD. Hemodynamic findings 1 week after coronary occlusion demonstrated that all rats were in heart failure, and there were no significant differences in hemodynamics among the three groups. In conclusion, our findings showed that hypertrophy with hypertension reduced infarct expansion, but that reduction of blood pressure by ACE inhibitor did not reduce infarct expansion more than hypertrophy did. However, this finding suggests that an ACE inhibitor may improve the rate of survival of patients with left ventricular hypertrophy with hypertension.     

Myocardial function during chronic food restriction in isolated hypertrophied cardiac muscle

BACKGROUND: The effect of food restriction (FR) on myocardial performance has been studied in normal hearts. Few experiments analyzed the effects of undernutrition on hearts subjected to cardiac overload. The aim of this study was to determine whether chronic FR promotes more significant changes in hypertrophied hearts than in normal hearts. METHODS: Myocardial performance was studied in isolated left ventricular papillary muscle from young male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) submitted to FR or to control diet. The animals subjected to FR were fed 50% of the amount of food consumed by control groups for 60 days. Isolated muscles were studied while contracting isometrically and isotonically. RESULTS: FR decreased the body weight and the left ventricular weight in both groups. FR increased the left ventricular weight-to-body weight ratio in the WKY rats and tended to decrease this ratio in SHR (P = 0.055). The arterial systolic pressure was greater in SHR than in WKY groups and did not change with FR. In the animals with normal diet, myocardial performance was better in SHR than in WKY. FR increased time to tension to fall from peak to 50% of peak tension and time to peak tension in the WKY rats and time to peak tension in the SHR. CONCLUSIONS: FR for 60 days has a trend to attenuate the development of cardiac hypertrophy and does not promote more mechanical functional changes in the hypertrophied myocardium than in the normal cardiac muscle.     

Augmented expression of atrial natriuretic polypeptide gene in ventricles of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and SHR-stroke prone

Tissue levels of atrial natriuretic polypeptide (ANP) and ANP messenger RNA (mRNA) in the atrium and ventricle were measured simultaneously in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and its substrain, SHR-stroke prone (SHRSP), and these levels were compared with those in control Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). At 27 weeks of age with established hypertension and ventricular hypertrophy, ANPmRNA levels in ventricles from SHR and SHRSP were markedly increased, and total contents of ventricular ANPmRNA in SHR and SHRSP were approximately 50% and 250%, respectively, of the corresponding atrial contents. However, levels and total contents of atrial ANPmRNA in SHR and SHRSP were similar to those of WKY, and the total content of ventricular ANPmRNA in WKY was only 6% of the content of atrial ANPmRNA. ANP concentrations in ventricles of SHR and SHRSP were increased in association with the augmentation of ANPmRNA levels. During the prehypertensive stage at 6 weeks of age, slight increases in levels and total contents of ANPmRNA and ANP in the ventricle were observed only in SHRSP. These results demonstrate that the expression of the ANP gene is markedly augmented in ventricles of SHR and SHRSP, especially of SHRSP, at the stage of established hypertension and ventricular hypertrophy, and they also suggest that these genetically hypertensive rats are one of the best animal models to investigate the biosynthesis, storage, and secretion of ventricular ANP.