Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulation on Cardiovascular Remodeling in Angiotensin II–Induced Hypertensive Rats

Abstract

It is unknown whether long-term pharmacological stimulation of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), elevating intracellular cGMP levels, has a beneficial effect on hypertension. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of BAY41-2272, an orally available sGC stimulator, on cardiovascular remodeling in hypertensive rats. Eight-week-old male Wistar rats with hypertension induced by angiotensin II infused subcutaneously at 250 ng/kg per minute were treated orally with a low ([L] 2 mg/kg per day) or high ([H] 10 mg/kg per day) dose of BAY41-2272 for 14 days. BAY41-2272-H partially suppressed the rise in blood pressure and reduced the heart weight (4.20±0.34 versus 3.68±0.20 mg/g; P<0.01), whereas BAY41-2272-L had no effect. However, both doses decreased the angiotensin II–induced left ventricular accumulation of collagen in the perivascular area (L, −20%, P<0.05; H, −30%, P<0.01) and myocardial interstitium (L, −21%, P<0.05; H, −38%, P<0.01), reducing the number of activated fibroblasts surrounding ...