Current work in the cell biology of left ventricular hypertrophy

The capacity of the myocardium to grow depends mainly on the capacity of myocardial cells to synthesize proteins. The capacity for protein synthesis is determined by the quantity of ribosomes present. The rate of ribosome formation is the major factor controlling ribosome content and is limited by the rate of ribosomal DNA transcription. Therefore, hypertensive myocardial growth can be considered as a process of stimulation of gene transcription and protein synthesis in myocardial cells found in animals and humans with elevated blood pressure. Current work in the cell biology of hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy is directed toward the characterization of the initiating stimuli and the coupling mechanisms that activate the myocardial gene program that, in turn, leads to the acquisition of the left ventricular hypertrophic phenotype. In addition, investigations are being made to define the involvement of changes in myocardial composition and structure in the functional abnormalities of hypertrophied myocardium.