Midwall left ventricular performance in salt-loaded Dahl rats: effect of AT1 angiotensin II inhibition.
OBJECTIVE
The relationship between left ventricular midwall shortening and circumferential end-systolic stress was studied in Dahl salt-sensitive (Dahl S) and salt-resistant (Dahl R) rats after 6-8 weeks of an 8% Na+ diet with or without losartan, an AT1 angiotensin II receptor antagonist.


METHODS
Losartan was given in drinking water to 13 Dahl S and 13 Dahl R rats, while 14 control Dahl S and 14 control Dahl R rats were given tap water, for 8 weeks. The endpoint was the last blood pressure and echocardiographic examination after 8 weeks or before death for rats which did not survive the entire period. Tail blood pressure was measured in awake animals and two-dimensional guided M-mode echocardiography was used.


RESULTS
The left ventricular midwall shortening-circumferential end-systolic stress relationship in 45 normotensive Wistar rats was used to calculate the ratio of observed to predicted left ventricular midwall fractional shortening. At the endpoint, afterload-independent midwall shortening was higher in Dahl S rats on losartan or tap water, and in Dahl R rats on losartan than in weight-matched normotensive Wistar rats (all P<0.05). Afterload-independent midwall shortening was related to the left ventricular chamber dimension in a learning series of 109 rats (64 Goldblatt and 45 normotensive rats on a normal sodium diet; r = 0.73) and was adjusted in Dahl rats to a constant left ventricular internal diameter (6.9 mm) by the learning regression equation. The adjusted afterload-independent midwall shortening was still higher in Dahl S rats on losartan than in controls (P<0.02). Left ventricular internal diameter-adjusted afterload-independent midwall shortening was inversely related to the left ventricular mass in both Dahl S and Dahl R groups (r = -0.40 and -0.72, both P<0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
(1) Midwall left ventricular performance was higher in Dahl S than Dahl R rats on a high-salt diet; (2) this elevation was partially independent of an increase in left ventricular chamber size, an indirect measure of preload; and (3) in Dahl S rats on losartan, increased left ventricular performance is related to improved contractility, associated with a blunted development of left ventricular hypertrophy.
Department of Medicine and Hypertension Center, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, New York, USA.
G
G
de Simone
R B
RB
Devereux
M J
MJ
Camargo
D C
DC
Wallerson
J E
JE
Sealey
J H
JH
Laragh
D057911:Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists; D000818:Animals; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019808:Losartan; D008297:Male; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013777:Tetrazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*
D057911:Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D007093:Imidazoles; D013777:Tetrazoles; D019808:Losartan