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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 289/1/H220    most recent 00417.2004v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lee, T.-M. Articles by Chang, N.-C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lee, T.-M. Articles by Chang, N.-C.

Effect of pravastatin on development of left ventricular hypertrophy in spontaneously hypertensive rats

¹Cardiology Section, Department of Medicine, Taipei Medical University and Chi-Mei Medical Center, Tainan; ²National Taiwan University and Department of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei; ³Department of Surgery, Municipal Jen-Ai Hospital, Taipei; ⁴Cardiology Section, Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei; and ⁵Cardiology Section, Department of Medicine, Taipei Medical University and Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Submitted 4 May 2004 ; accepted in final form 19 January 2005

Endothelin (ET)-1 has been implicated in the development of cardiac hypertrophy. We investigated the effect of pravastatin on development of ventricular hypertrophy in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and whether the attenuated hypertrophic effect was via reduced ET-1 expression. Normolipidemic SHR were treated with one of the following therapies for 8 wk: vehicle, the nonselective ET receptor antagonists bosentan, pravastatin, mevalonate, hydralazine, or combination of pravastatin + mevalonate from the age of 8 wk at the very early stage of cardiac hypertrophy. Treatment with bosentan and pravastatin significantly decreased left ventricular mass index for body weight and cardiomyocyte sizes isolated by enzymatic dissociation. The myocardial ET-1 levels and preproET-1 mRNA assessed using real-time quantitative RT-PCR were significantly higher (both P < 0.001) in the SHR compared with Wistar-Kyoto rats. The increased tissue ET-1 levels can be inhibited after pravastatin administration. Immunohistochemical analysis confirmed the changes of ET-1. Left ventricular mass index for body weight correlated positively with tissue ET-1 levels (P = 0.0004). A dissociation between the effects of blood pressure and cardiac structure was noted, because pravastatin and hydralazine reduced arterial pressure similarly. Pravastatin-induced effects were reversed by the addition of mevalonate. In conclusion, these results suggest a crucial role of cardiac endothelin system in the early development of ventricular hypertrophy in the SHR. Pravastatin is endowed with cardiac antihypertropic properties that are independent of its hemodynamic and hypolipidemic effects and appear to be related to their capacity to decrease cardiac ET-1 levels, which is linked to mevalonate metabolism.

cardiomyocytes; endothelin-1; immunohistochemistry

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