Biochemical aspects of cardiac hypertrophy

Cardiac hypertrophy is a basic adaptive response to increased functional demands on the heart. The mechanisms regulating protein synthesis and energetic efficiency in the hypertrophying myocardium have important implications for the pump performance of the heart. Although our knowledge of the initial steps in the transduction of hypertrophic stimuli to increased RNA and protein synthesis is scanty, progress is being made in elucidating the control of nuclear RNA synthesis in the normal and hypertrophied myocardium. It is expected that application to the myocyte of recently acquired knowledge about growth control in other cell systems will lead to new concepts with potential clinical relevance.