To assess the possible contribution of the circulatory and cardiac renin-angiotensin system (RAS) to the cardiac hypertrophy induced by a beta-agonist, the present study evaluated the effects of isoproterenol, alone or combined with an angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitor or AT(1) receptor blocker, on plasma and LV renin activity, ANG I, and ANG II, as well as left ventricular (LV) and rig...

Arterial hypertension is a major risk factor for congestive heart failure. Left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy is often associated with arterial hypertension and characterizes subjects with a particularly elevated risk of untoward cardiovascular events, including heart failure.1 LV hypertrophy is, in turn, associated with impaired LV myocardial contractility and LV diastolic dysfunction. LV hyper...

To improve the diagnostic usefulness of electrocardiography (ECG) in determining the severity of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) with body surface mapping, 87 unipolar ECGs were recorded from 57 patients with left ventricular (LV) concentric hypertrophy and 30 with LV dilatation. Body surface ECG features due to LVH were evaluated by increase of QRS voltage and delayed local activation. We m...

To investigate the role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3) in left ventricular (LV) remodeling induced by chronic pressure overload, the impact of transverse aortic constriction (TAC) on LV structure and function was compared in wild-type (WT) and NOS3-deficient (NOS3(-/-)) mice. Before TAC, LV wall thickness, mass, and fractional shortening were similar in the two mouse strains. Twent...

BACKGROUND Though long known to affect smooth muscle biology, recent studies indicate that phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) is also expressed in myocardium. Recognizing that the regulation of PDE5 in hypertrophy is not well understood, we assessed the response of PDE5 expression and the level of cGMP-dependent kinase I (cGKI) in the left and right ventricles of feline hypertrophy models. METHODOLOG...

BACKGROUND Excessive catecholamine release in pheochromocytoma is known to cause transient reversible left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, such as in the case of pheochromocytoma-associated catecholamine cardiomyopathy. We investigated patterns of clinical presentation and incidence of LV dysfunction in patients with pheochromocytoma. METHODS From January 2004 to April 2011, consecutive patient...

BACKGROUND Angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitors (ARNi), beyond blocking angiotensin II signaling, augment natriuretic peptides by inhibiting their breakdown by neprilysin. The myocardial effects of ARNi have been little studied until recently. We hypothesized that LCZ696 attenuates left ventricular (LV) remodeling after experimental myocardial infarction (MI), and that this may be contrib...

BACKGROUND Both ECG strain pattern and QRS measured left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy criteria are associated with LV hypertrophy and have been used for risk stratification. However, the independent predictive value of ECG strain in apparently healthy individuals in predicting mortality and adverse cardiovascular events is unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atheroscleros...

AIMS Left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and abnormal non-invasive measures of LV diastolic function are common in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) but their prognostic importance is uncertain. This study aimed to determine whether tissue Doppler measures of LV systolic and/or diastolic function or echocardiographic LV hypertrophy are useful for risk stratifying asymptomatic patients wit...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to examine gender differences in left ventricular (LV) function and expression of cardiac genes in response to LV pressure overload due to ascending aortic stenosis in rats. BACKGROUND Clinical studies have documented gender differences in the pattern of adaptive LV hypertrophy. Whether these differences result from intrinsic differences in molecular...