Cardiac endothelin system impairs left ventricular function in renin-dependent hypertension via decreased sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) uptake.

Background: We evaluated the role of the cardiac endothelin (ET) system in compensated hypertensive left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH) and after the transition toward LV dysfunction.

Methods And Results: Hypertensive transgenic rats overexpressing the Ren2 gene (Ren2 rats) were investigated between the ages of 10 and 30 weeks (Ren2-10 and Ren2-30 groups, respectively) and compared with age-matched normotensive Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (SD-10 and SD-30 groups, respectively). Systolic blood pressure and LV weight were elevated in both Ren2 groups compared with their age-matched SD control groups (P:<0.