Long-term physical exercise and atrial natriuretic peptide in obese Zucker rats

Endurance training increases natriuretic peptide synthesis in the hypertrophied myocardium of spontaneously hypertensive rats. We examined the effects of 22-week-long treadmill exercise on plasma and tissue atrial natriuretic peptide in Zucker rats, a model of genetic obesity and moderate hypertension without clear cardiac hypertrophy. The blood pressures of the animals were measured by the tail-cuff method, and plasma and tissue samples for the peptide determinations were taken at the end of the study. The training increased heart weight to body weight ratio, while atrial natriuretic peptide contents in the right and left atrium, ventricular tissue, and plasma did not change. The exercise prevented the elevation of blood pressure, which was observed in non-exercised obese Zucker rats, and also reduced blood pressure in the lean rats. In conclusion, these results suggest that in the absence of preceding myocardial hypertrophy, the long-term exercise-induced workload is not deleterious to the heart in experimental obesity, since no changes in plasma and tissue atrial natriuretic peptide were detected.