Synthesis and presence of atrial natriuretic factor in rat ventricle

Rat heart ventricles contained immunoreactive atrial natriuretic factor (irANF) and mRNA for ANF. The size of ANF mRNA in the ventricle was identical with that of the atria. High performance gel filtration chromatography showed that 84% of ventricular irANF elutes at a position corresponding to the low molecular weight form of ANF (99-126) and 16% of irANF elutes at a position corresponding to the precursor form of ANF. The irANF content of the ventricles of spontaneously hypertensive rats was 3 times as much as that of Wistar Kyoto rats. These results suggest that ventricle synthesizes ANF in response to hypertension and processes in a manner different from that in atria.