[Cardiac function in isolated working rat heart with pressure overload hypertrophy: correlation with myocardial...

Using the isolated working rat heart model, we recorded cardiac function of the hypertrophied hearts induced by abdominal aortic banding and determined the myocardial angiotensin II level. Compared with the sham-operated control hearts, the maximal diastolic rate (-dp/dt) and coronary flow rate (per gram of left ventricular weight) were decreased, while the myocardial angiotensin II content was increased in the hypertrophied hearts. Correlation analysis revealed that both coronary flow rate (r = -0.8097, P < 0.001) and -dp/dt (r = -0.5463, P < 0.01) were negatively correlated to myocardial angiotensin II. We conclude that the activated cardiac renin-angiotensin system may be responsible for the decreased diastolic function and coronary reserve in the hypertrophied hearts.